


How To Train Your Huntress

by ReadySpaghetti4Regretti



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:03:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14035782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadySpaghetti4Regretti/pseuds/ReadySpaghetti4Regretti
Summary: When your undying loyalty has been pledged your whole life to a soul that believes all pieces on the board to be expendable, there's little to guarantee your survival in the vicious world of Dragon Hunters. And while we're at it, let's throw a baby Night Fury at her. How will Hiccup and the Dragon Riders handle this new foe/friend?





	1. Huntress

**Author's Note:**

> Shimmies sideways into a wall
> 
> So you know how you make an unimportant side OC to fill in continuity gaps, and then they actually turn into… a problem. yikes YIKES yikes. Thank you to everyone for attempting this.

The sharp, Razorwhip scales strategically layered on her handcrafted axe almost glimmered in the sunlight creeping past the high forest canopy. Heather felt a twinge of pride intermingle with her battle ferocity as she deftly twirled the handle of her weapon to adjust her grip. Such an action would make her swing powerful enough to separate the Leader of the Dragon Hunter's body from his head.

Viggo stood rooted to the ground, stance mildly defensive towards the blade edge held so precariously close to the flesh of his neck. Tilting his chin up as an extra measure had already spared him a nasty pre-emptive cut. "Were you waiting for an invitation?" Arching a brow, unable to hold back a smirk dripping with malicious intent, the older male quickly re-established his renowned composure.

"Heather wait! We have to think this through." Internal cogs and gears were winding furiously in the young Viking's head as he held out his hand, imploring her to pause. Hiccup should have relished in the situation presented before him, but if he knew Viggo—and unfortunately he did—he wouldn't easily allow any sense of triumph to distract him. It was under suspicious enough circumstances that they had been separated from the rest of the Riders. His green eyes darted to the unconscious handful of hunters nearby, returning quickly to his companion. "Just hold—"

"There's nothing to think through!" Utter disbelief twisted deeply into her words, summoning forth the fury that remained so securely buried beneath a volatile surface. Windshear emitted a low, rumbling noise, angling her silver muzzle protectively towards her Rider in hesitant support of her actions. "We have him, Hiccup. And we're going to end him." Her mind was set.

Toothless was the first to hear it, his emerald eyes narrowing to slits whilst his body tensed and rose with a feline-like grace. "What is it, bud?" It had been a sudden snap, closer in proximity than the night fury preferred. "Something's up." Waves of caution rising to a boiling point, Hiccup made to grab the dark-haired girl and fly to safety with haste.

The dragon hunter deigned to fix them both with a contemptuous glare that burned with the intensity of hot sulfur, "That is correct. A bit late on the epiphany though, as usual." His accent smoothly lilted, like a knife wrapped in velvet, expressing apparent disappointment.

Without warning, the two dragons simultaneously yelped in surprise, their large frames wrapped entirely by a reinforced net of unidentifiable material. They thrashed against their binds; attempting whatever method they were capable of to escape.

"Toothless!"

"Windshear!"

The two Riders cried out simultaneously, their dreaded fears confirmed.

Knuckles white from her vice grip on the double-axe, Heather spun from the dragons to face Viggo once more, determined to accomplish her interrupted objective. However, unless the Hunter had miraculously shrunk in height, and turned into a girl, this was not her initial target.

The strangers' eyes, two polished glaciers of ice, glowered defiantly at her taller opponent from beneath a black cowl. Another moment of hesitation passed following the sudden appearance. Hiccup's brows knit, knowing he had little time to devise a viable plan.

Unhinging her weapon, Heather advanced purposefully, her braided hair swaying with a life of its own. "Look, I don't know who you are, but if you hurt our dragons, I'll behead you myself!" Before she could inflict any manner of damage, the newcomer lithely stepped to the side, and jammed her heel forcefully against the axe grip, just above the hinge. A surprised yell burst from the Rider's mouth as she watched her double axe snap back into a harmless, folded position. "Gah!" Sky and black spots filled her vision as the wind entirely left her lungs. It took a moment for her to register being disarmed and flat on her back.

"Or… you can lie down there and gag for a bit." The venomous response elicited a wry laugh from Viggo who approached to stand at the girl's side while more hunters appeared from the depths of the dense forest to surround the riders and their dragons. Their formation was practiced—precise, meaning they'd wandered carelessly into a trap, succeeding a series of events that led them to this very spot.

"You're early." His tone feigned civility, sparing her a glance over his spiked pauldrons.

"Which by your terms means I'm late." One swift flourish pushed back the hood to reveal shoulder length, near colorless, flaxen hair, and a young face that allowed Hiccup to deduce that she was no older than he. Her petite stature, snowy hair, and facial features also made him suspect that she was from somewhere beyond the archipelago. Nevertheless, he found himself deeply frowning at the familiarity exchanged between two, and made a move.

Alas, she saw his hand twitch towards his blade hilt and she peeled her lips back from her teeth with an exasperated sigh. "Don't." Hiccup's hand had nearly grasped his weapon before flinching away from the act. The woman's heel was poised atop Heather's neck. Being pinned down by two bulky hunters left her completely at the mercy of the heavy boot.

"O-Okay! Okay!" Holding his hands up in compliancy, the rider heard his dragon snarl and paw more aggressively at the restraints with his forelimbs. "Whoah, easy Toothless." He murmured soothingly, "There's no need for anyone to get hurt." A pause. "You win!" They'd get out of this… somehow. Astrid and the others would find them, with their tracking ability combined, as well as persistence; their captivity wouldn't last long. "… For now." Concluded the Viking quietly behind clenched teeth,

A chastising click of his tongue inclined his subordinate's head, prompting her to step away from the captured rider. Viggo neatly folded his hands behind his back, "Oh. Forgive my rudeness." As he spoke, his underlings began to bind Hiccups' hands and transfer the other prisoners into the dragon-proof cages, propped up by functional wheels. "Hiccup, I'd like to introduce you to Aquaria—my star pupil. Coordinator of your capture." The cadence in his speech always reminded the russet-haired rider to take his enemy's information with a grain of salt.

"This is far from over." Hiccup glanced knowingly at Heather, who was now recovering in her cell, blinking blearily and rubbing absentmindedly her sore collarbone. New player aside, they would persevere.

"To the ships!" His voice only minutely rose in volume, but assumed an authoritative quality nonetheless. Viggo's men complied swiftly with his orders, ready to load the bait onboard for the predicted rescuers to come flapping along. "Aqua." Summoning the woman who glided over to stand at a respectful distance behind him, the dark-haired hunter felt his neutral expression tick upwards at the edges in a sort of smile.

"If you're going to give me another lecture about tact—" He silenced her with a simple raise of his hand, indicating for her to attend to the captives.

oOo

"Hey! It's uh, Aqua, right?" Aqua stood three paces in front of the cage that held one Hiccup Haddock. Despite the silence, he knew he had her passive attention. "Look… I don't know what Viggo has on you," Considering the manipulative nature he controlled, "but you don't have to do this." He partially extended his hand through the sturdily constructed cell bars, as a gesture of camaraderie.

"Ugh." Heather rolled her eyes, chiming in on the conversation—albeit with a less amiable approach. "Listen, he's using you, and will feed you to a Skrill the _second_ you outlive your usefulness!" She gripped the bars firmly, putting her face close to the opening in hopes of getting her point across. This girl could have proved to be a strong ally, if this went remotely the way she wished.

"I'm aware." Visibly taken aback by the response, Hiccup reevaluated his rushed approach. Perhaps, unlike the other hunters, she wasn't purely driven by monetary gain. Maybe it was a crippling debt or blackmail, where another cherished life hung in the balance.

"We can help you." He'd only have her attentiveness for so long, it was now or never. "You won't have to owe him anything." That struck the cord he was aiming for, enticing her to halt and slightly turn her head.

"Oh, but Hiccup…" The tight knot in his throat dropped heavily into his stomach, "I owe him… _everything_."

Indeed Aqua possessed something of monumental value to Viggo—unwavering loyalty.


	2. The Chicken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly continuing from the first bit. Its just another interaction with the other characters before I knead her irreversibly into the RTTE verse. I promise it actually achieves some cohesion after this.

 

The invaders had left the front door wide open when they stole her family away. Aqua could feel neither the bitter wind bite at her, nor the frozen flakes of snow as they dusted and melted onto her pale cheeks and hair. Her blue eyes remained locked on the trail outside as if waiting for the falling snow to cover the invader's tracks, or at least the dragging trail left by her parent's bare feet. A hawk's piercing cry echoed across the wide expanse of snow-laden ground.

The child shut the door.

oOo

" _Bwok Bwok BWAGAWCK"_

Plucked from her reminiscing by the sound of a chicken's distressed clucking, the huntress blinked, shifting her gaze to the tall blonde male with a plump brown hen cradled under his arm. A rasp accompanied his threatening tone, "I say we put her in the reverse crab defeather-er…er— what do you think?" Undoubtedly… he was speaking with the chicken, but Aqua did not want to know exactly what that type of device could do in reverse. A single cluck and ruffle of its feathers served as a response. "No no, you're absolutely right. She doesn't deserve it."

In a meager endeavor to distract herself, Aqua tested the rope she had been bound with around her legs. Her hands were behind her, securely fastened with iron on her wrists. There was a certain touch of relief to discover at least one competent member amongst the Dragon Riders. A golden haired girl had tied her up properly—they called her Astrid, and she was as daunting as she was compassionate from what could be gathered.

Despite the fact that she had tried to stop listening, the huntress tuned back in at the most unfortunate time—the man had removed his studded helmet, an uneven grin stretched across his slim face, and had begun serenading his chicken in a foreign language.

"Well this is… uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?!" Offense apparent, "You haven't even seen uncomfortable, sister!" Straightening out his pale green tunic, Tuffnut received just the cue he needed to orchestrate a spectacle. His twin sister observed nearby, her expression being the equivalent of rubbing one's hands together in sheer glee.

"You know I really don't think we should keep her here." Another female voice spoke urgently to Hiccup.

"I know, believe me Astrid, her being here gives me a bad feeling too." The young viking's voice responded, reminding her of a foghorn. However, after discovering the huntress prancing—okay maybe not prancing—onto the Edge all by herself, precautions had to be taken.

"Dump her in the middle of the ocean!  _Boom!_  Problem solved and fishes fed." Clapping his hands together as if being rid of an encumbering task, the short, stocky one gave a shrug when all eyes in the room incredulously turned to him. "What?! We're all thinkin' it—Thank you, Snotlout!" He exclaimed in the stead of those around him, "You are so welcome, fellow riders. Buh-bye, Snowy!" Wiggling his fingers in a dainty wave at their captive, he headed for the exit. The fruitless exchange concluded with Snotlout folding his bulky arms over his chest, muttering incessantly to himself about being underappreciated.

Eyes glittering like frost, Aqua trained her gaze on Astrid and Hiccup, observing the subtle contact between them. His hand rested gingerly on her shoulder, trailing lightly down her arm as a measure of comfort. "If anything, we've got leverage." That seemed to soften her azure eyes as she dipped her chin in an apprehensive nod.

"I wouldn't really call it that." Everyone turned, moderately stunned by the chiming laugh, normal by all means, that accompanied her words. "No. I definitely wouldn't call it that." Aqua reevaluated. She cleared her throat to clarify, "If you're worried about hunters coming." Shaking her head, Aqua affirmed, "Don't waste your time."

"And you think we're going to let our guards down just because you say so?" Astrid fully faced her, cutting an impressive and imposing figure as she strode forth.

"No. I'm trying to appeal to your common sense." Her tone was caustic at a volume so quiet and even. "Would Viggo really spare the time and resources, for one person, to storm the Edge with all of you on high alert?" The golden-haired Viking pressed her lips together, squinting one eye, and then the other. Brushing her side-swept bangs in a habitual motion, Astrid looked to their leader.

"She does… make a pretty compelling point." More than half of him remained unconvinced, pitch climbing with each, slowly uttered, syllable.

"I hear ya, but I'm starting to agree with Snotlout." Hands on her hips, Astrid shook her head to and fro, "And we all know how ridiculous that is…"

"I heard my name!" A head poked back into the room, brows wiggling like brown caterpillars.

"Guys! Guys! GUYS!" In his rush, Fishlegs collided with Snotlout, sending them both barreling onto the wooden planks of the floor. Untangling himself, clumsily, the Gronckle-rider addressed those present whilst the other male brushed himself off in annoyance. "We've got a major problem!" Panting and pausing as he issued the message, the Viking almost fell over again as his dragon bumped into him from behind.

"What… kind of problem?" Dared Hiccup.

"The giant, scary, angry, slicing-anything-and-everything-in-its-path kind!" Aqua had no idea a person's voice could fathomably reach that high. A distant explosion that rocked the very foundation they stood on demonstrated the potential catastrophe brewing outside.

Astrid scowled, looking to their captive before running out. The rest followed suit. "What the—" She cut herself off, "It's a Timberjack!" Both alarm and confusion shook her voice, rippling through the rest of her friends.

Enormous hooked wings sliced through the air, easily felling a storage building that housed most of their food supply. A few trees were caught in its ruthless sweep. The creature bellowed sorrowfully towards the heavens, narrow tail lashing wildly, knocking over barrels of freshly collected fish.

"I don't understand—Timberjacks aren't aggressive! They actually prefer calm environments." Fishlegs mounted Meatlug, unable to tear his eyes away from the massive dragon.

"We'll try to lead it away from the Edge." Keeping the damage to their outpost minimal was the current objective here. "Distract it until we can figure out what's wrong." A sharp whistle summoned Stormfly in an instant, allowing Astrid to take to the skies with ease. Without pause, the Timberjack demolished two of their lookout towers, bathing them in a brilliant flame.

"Distraction? This sounds like a job for barfelch! BELFART!" The male twin frowned slightly, hopping onto his two-headed dragon.

"What?" Ruffnut yelled dubiously from her side, steering the zippleback towards the fire already spreading to the east side of the Edge.

"I've been trying to combine their names! You know, for professional team building and all that."

"Ooooh Gotcha! Then shouldn't we be trying to combine  _all of our names_?" It was absolutely genius.

"Be careful guys! Remember; Timberjacks have super tough, and broad wings that can take a whole lot of our firepower! Like a huge shield" Even if their goal wasn't to hurt it, getting too close could prove to be detrimental. Fishlegs and Snotlout followed close behind the twins and Astrid to the center of the chaos.

A jet-black blur descended from the sky and landed at the entrance of the Clubhouse with a soft thud. Toothless' unique vibrating call beckoned his rider to him.

_Crack!_

Hiccup grimaced and turned, seeing their captive's face lightly contorted in pain. With ease she slipped one of her hands from the metal binds. "How—" A second bone-chilling noise snapped the thumb on her released hand back into place. Hiccup allowed a disconcerted sound to escape him.

"I really think you should join your friends on their egg hunt." Flaming sword drawn, the Viking furrowed his brow at her selection of words.

His bright green eyes widened in apparent horror, "You stole a Timberjack egg." It wasn't a question. "And its somewhere on the Edge." Glad he'd worked it out, her lips curved into a vague smirk.

Prioritization won this battle as he spun and ran for his night fury, intent on helping the enraged dragon. He knew exactly where she'd hidden the egg; the only opponent he faced right now was time. Repercussions of letting her go would haunt him another day.

oOo

She'd concealed her modified slalom sled well. The Chilblain invention fulfilled its purpose in gliding her swiftly across the water quite a distance with its strong propeller. Originally, ice and snow were the appropriate terrain for this vessel, but her adjustments made it more attune to cutting past waves. A hunter ship awaited her just beyond the calamity of the outpost. It was enough to ensure she wasn't followed to the current location of their operation.

Aqua kept to herself for the brief sail to the temporary, clandestine base. The information she had gathered was basic and jumbled, to be frank. In fact, she was debating whether or not a day had been wasted. Absentmindedly tucking a lock of snow-white hair behind her ear, the huntress ambled to her tent.

"Did you get what you needed from that experience?" So, he was privy her independent endeavor. Honestly, it concerned her how accustomed she was to being snuck up on. Watching, as Viggo seemed to sprout from the shadows and begin to prowl closer, Aqua straightened.

"Just studying the opponent." Smoothly pivoting to meet his gaze, carrying herself impeccably, if not a bit arrogantly, "You taught me that." She punctuated resolutely, eliminating the possibility for him to reprimand her.

"And? Did you learn anything of use?" Viggo played along, admittedly curious. He crossed to her, gesturing for her to continue. Ashamed, she shook her head.

"I was amused, if anything." Still, he waited patiently for a recount. "There are seven in total—only six were present." In detail, she reported the roles of each rider, from Hiccup's leadership to Fishleg's intellect to Tuffnut's… chicken. She then disclosed the Outpost's structure, complete with building types, battle advantages, and the unique differences in elevation. And then went on to summarize the types of dragons involved. "So we have The Leader, The Lover, The Brute, The Brain, The Twins, and The Chicken..." Aqua had added the last one quietly for posterity.

"The Lover." Recalling Astrid and Hiccup's fond interaction as an easily exploitable factor, Aqua cemented what he'd already discerned. He scanned her state, eyes catching on the cloth tightly wrapped around her right hand. "You're growing reckless." Viggo warned darkly. There was no response long enough for him to sigh heavily, "You'd do well to remember not to fail me, Aqua." Reiterating the mantra she essentially lived by, the dragon hunter turned to depart.

"Have I ever?" Her inquiry was earnest, though not lacking in a sprinkle of confidence.

"There was that dealing with the Hysteric Tribe." Idly scratching his jaw, the man spoke with a resigned chuckle, able to predict her audible wince that followed.

"That… does not count."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everything.


	3. A Poisonous Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who doesn't love Hiccstrid angst? Hiccup!Whump. Get rekt, my dude.

The weight of fear had been crushing Astrid's chest ever since Hiccup had been shot down. Now, though, with each passing moment of no signal from the rider or his dragon, the weight was crippling. She could barely breathe from the constriction over her chest, terrified that her own dynastic ambition had put him in harm's way. The scene playing in vivid detail of the arrow piercing his frame repeated, mockingly and with stunning clarity. She tried to hit the pause just as he slipped off the crafted saddle of his dragon and plummeted towards the earth.

"Come on, girl, we gotta find them!" Diving into a cluster of trees, Stormfly landed with two skidding hops, her eyes darting about for their friends. The dragon screeched in a desperate call for their companions. It had just been a normal scouting mission. Inhaling deeply, the young woman pressed her fingers to her temples, willing herself to calm down and muster forth her skills. Her anxiety still bubbling over visibly, Astrid surveyed the grassy floor, and then the trees, "Focus. Show me tracks, broken branches...  _anything_ " Stormfly had sprinted off into the brush, taking a different approach to covering more ground.

All reason was leaving her, in spite of her efforts to concentrate.

"Astrid?" A soft, strained voice reached her. She whirled, hand instinctively flying to her weapon. At seeing the lanky Viking with his flaming sword drawn defensively, relief blossomed.

"Hiccup!" Shoulders releasing the built tension with her gasp, Astrid placed a hand on her chest, "Oh thank Thor." Beneath the sheen of perspiration on his forehead, Hiccup blanched, failing miserably at taking a single step forward. Toothless growled despairingly, shifting quickly to support his rider. Weapon extinguishing and falling to the ground, the male slid forward on Toothless. He felt arms wrap around him and gingerly lower him to the floor, preventing an inevitable harsh impact.

"The arrow. I think it was poisoned." And not with dragonroot. His revelation was a bare whisper. The deep gash in his side, where the arrow had ripped through a weak point in his armor, radiated with an intense sting. Stormfly and Toothless hovered nervously nearby. The dragon rider's consciousness was a candle guttering in the encroaching blackness, light flickering in and out of existence, threatening to be extinguished entirely.

"No  _no_   _no_ …. It's going to be okay, we'll get you back to the Edge." They had a variety of herbs available to them, and might have been able to devise something of a solution. Though, in her experience with poison, one needed the original agent to create a cure. "You have to stand up…" She coaxed, wrapping her arm around his waist and pulling him up.

"I can't… feel my leg." It took every ounce of effort to keep his voice even, faltering only a moment. Internally apologizing, Astrid hoisted him up, heart wrenching tightly at his pained cry.

"Here, Stormfly." The dragon attempted to lower herself as much as possible for both riders to safely climb on.

"He'll die before he makes it to your outpost." It was a voice that Astrid most certainly did not want to hear right now. She protectively held onto Hiccup, incapable of reaching her weapon. Fortunately, Stormfly reacted in her stead. The nadder shrieked in sheer discontent before swinging its deadly tail. Sharp spines were flung at a blinding speed towards the nearby huntress.

Aqua ducked and boldly swept her hand into the barrage of spikes. Stormfly growled at seeing the woman holding one of the poisonous spines between her fingers, careful not to cut herself. With frightening accuracy, she threw it back at the party. Reflecting her own attack, the deadly nadder hissed irritably, "Okay if you're done with that, you might want to listen to me."

"We're not listening to anything you have to say. To be honest, we really don't have time for you today." Astrid snapped frostily.

"Then he dies." She shrugged, sliding her right foot behind her and pivoting away "With the antidote solution being like ten paces away from you." Rolling her eyes, Aqua knew she had seized the viking's consideration.

"Are you… seriously offering to help?" Weakly placing a hand on the blue hued scales of the dragon to keep himself upright, Hiccup wearily looked from one woman to the other.

"I thought that was kind of clear." She said haltingly, wondering just how delirious the both of them were.

"What the catch, huh? What're you playing at?" Astrid sneered, causing the night fury to deepen his defensive stance with a huff to accompany her interrogation. Teeth visible as a growl vibrated his upper lip; Toothless felt a brutal blast of violet flame stirring in his core.

"Uh. No catch." Aqua's expression began to exude annoyance, like she was speaking to incompetent children. "I don't have any orders to maim or cripple you today." Justified the huntress. Unwilling to question the skewedness of her moral compass, the riders exchanged glances with one another.

"Then what are you orders?"

"None of your business."

"Uughh, Yes fine, FINE. If you have the antidote, I'll take it." Astrid impatiently demanded.

"Never said I had it. All of the ingredients are on this island." She rolled her shoulders, keeping her voice a soft drone, "It won't take me long to create it though. There's a cave east of here. Take refuge there and I'll return before sundown." Before the blonde Viking could go off on a whole tirade about the act of earning trust, and what a horrendous job she had done to gain it, her companion began to cough violently.

"Hiccup." She called soothingly, trying to reorient him.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." The man repeated over and over a few times for assurance, his voice cracking with each reiteration.

"Shhh. shh" She lightly caressed Hiccup's clammy cheek. Faced with a serious dilemma, Astrid swallowed thickly. Trusting the huntress was ill advised. "I'm coming with you." It was the only way to ensure her cooperation, and a swift demise, were she to stray.

"Are you joking, or are you just stupid?" Flames might as well have sparked in the viking's eyes, "He's wounded—unless a night fury and a nadder can stop the bleeding, stitch that up, fetch him water, and attend to basic comforts to keep him alive?"

Her teeth were grinding as she watched the huntress hurry off to complete her task. It was at that moment Toothless reacted, shooting into the air and landing so harshly that the earth quaked next to their enemy. The dragon snorted indignantly, opting to keep an eye on the distrustful human in Astrid's place. If anything happened to his rider, the night fury would be the first to roast her alive.

"Really?" Unfazed, Aqua bore her gaze into Toothless. "You're going to leave a Night Fury." Her unnerving gray-blue eyes flickered to the Vikings. " _The_  Night Fury." She emphasized, "With me. A dragon hunter." Enunciation present in each letter, Aqua let it sink into their thick skulls.

"Don't get cocky—Toothless can handle you." Bolstering the dragon's cleverness, Astrid nodded knowingly, trusting Toothless would do everything in his power to save Hiccup.

"Incredible." Aqua made a face, obviously not expecting the extra company, but adjusted nonetheless. Having a dragon breathing down her neck definitely gave a whole new definition to "grace under fire".

oOo

Empty echoes of dripping water bounced around every dark crevice of the cave Aqua had mentioned. At least one part had been true, but Astrid Hofferson wasn't one to be careless. After gently leaning her injured companion against a sturdy, flat stone near the entrance, she requested that Stormfly remain on guard at the cavern opening. Meanwhile, she ventured to the very back of the hollow to confirm that there weren't any nasty traps lurking in their temporary refuge.

Bandaging his wound didn't take long, even with her hands trembling as she secured the wrap. Vigilantly, the deadly nadder patrolled along the outside perimeter, sensing that they were not the only souls dwelling on the island. Her wings unfurled and ruffled like a bird before she jerked her spiked head to listen for any discrepancies in the air.

Struggling to speak as an unforgiving shiver sent his body into a spasm, Hiccup muffled a grunt in his throat. He twisted his body to channel the pain, fighting to regain control of his consciousness. "I'm here." Something warm wrapped gently around his hand and squeezed. "Hang in there, alright, we'll get through this together." Her presence offered a measure of comfort that allowed a brief reprieve from the burning sensation dominating his entire torso. "You and I—we've been through way worse."

"Toothless…" He didn't recognize his voice, so hoarse that a dry choke was all he was rewarded for his effort.

"He'll be back soon." Astrid injected as much conviction as she could gather into her answer, despite the dire circumstances.

oOo

Humans had always been unique creatures to him, even when they were primarily murderous and intent on wiping out his kind. Truly, Toothless hadn't paid attention to their behaviors before encountering his Rider, mostly focused on how to evade and sabotage them. Since then, humans never ceased to amaze him. Generally, he grew fond of or begrudgingly tolerant of them. However, the night fury had not been able to stop baring his teeth at his situational company.

Her armor was darker than the night itself, save for some silver accents. A deep crimson shade lined her pauldrons, all the way along the flat, jagged dragon-wing shaped swordbreakers protecting both of her shoulders. Her lower arms were covered by vambraces, which had rows upon rows of barbed black metal pieces, mimicking dragon scales, complete with spiny claws. In fact, the armor from her gray cuirass, down to her legs, was layered in flexible, sharp scales that seemed to shift as she moved. Any area that was not imitating scales, namely her midsection, was lined with the same gray-hued exoskeleton meant to emulate a dragon.

Aqua could practically feel the hot breath of the beast spreading across her backside. One wrong move and the next exhale would have engulfed her in an inferno. Toothless stalked behind her even as she stopped at the base of a steep cliff. Ear appendages drooping in question, the dragon bellowed impatiently when she halted in front of the dead-end wall.

"Oh do hush up. I'm getting really sick of your snorting and honking." An otherworldly rumble warbled from the night fury as he lashed his tail thoughtfully. His pupils were narrowed in distrust, peeling back his lips even further. "Stay." She commanded. Toothless took the highest level of offense, shaking his head, not keen on ever obey her.

Brow arch rising as the huntress suddenly began scaling the steep wall, Toothless made a puzzled grunting noise. Helplessly he turned his emerald eyes skyward to witness Aqua deftly using the tiny footholds to climb higher. Growling, the night fury leapt and clambered up the abrupt incline, only to slide back down without the help of his rider.

"Oh for the love of—!" Aqua held fast to the small ledges provided, "I said to wait!" She nearly spun her head all the way around to scream at the giant black lizard waiting below. "Try that again and I'll make sure you actually become toothless!" Threats weren't her forte, but dying because of an overexcited dragon was the last thing on her list today.

Toothless crooned in exasperation, blustering at how loudly she had retaliated. Rearing, he placed his front paws on the ascent, stretching his neck as much as his muscles would permit. The woman produced something of a container and appeared to be scraping a clear liquid from the altitude she stopped at.

A glimmer of scales flashed in the night fury's line of sight. Toothless snarled and called to the huntress. "I swear to—Did you not hear me?" It was then that she saw the slithering creatures emerge from the jagged gaps in the precipice. A well-intentioned fireball exploded against the crag just above her head. Aqua capped the container with her hand and shouted as she fell back.

With lightning speed, characteristic of a night fury, Toothless launched himself upwards, catching the small woman on his back before dropping smoothly into the canyon parallel to the overhang. "Look out!" Her warning was heeded at the last second. Toothless swung his body, sending the huntress tumbling to the dirt floor.

"I'm gonna kill this dragon." She muttered sourly, checking the tiny wooden container to make sure she hadn't lost any liquid. "I'm going to commit some atrocities and—" Brushing herself off when the dust settled, Aqua glanced over to find the dragon groaning in regret. A rockslide had been triggered from the concussive blast Toothless had delivered and a particularly colossal boulder now pinned his tail down. He thrashed, thundering at the sky, and then blasted the pile of rocks to open a path back to the other side.

"Stop! Stop! stop!" Why did she even try? "Uuughhhhhhh." It was the longest aggravated sound she had produced in years. Toothless recoiled at seeing a larger rock dislodge and roll its way down towards him. Aqua stood poised, unhooking a plain metal rod from her belt. The shaft was not longer than a nadder spine, but a press of her finger extended it into a long staff. Features screwing into a sneer as the staff end was aimed at him, Toothless grumbled curiously as she modified the trajectory upwards. Three consecutive shots of blue flame volleyed from the end of the staff, shattering the stone falling towards him into a shower of harmless sparks.

Fearlessly, she ran at him, jamming the rod underneath the stone crushing his tail. Aqua pressed all her weight down on the opposite end, lifting the pressure just enough for the dragon to free himself.

Exhaling sharply, Toothless tested the flexibility of his tail, swinging and rotating it for good measure. No damage had come to the prosthetic tail Hiccup created for him.

"This is absurd. I didn't ask for babysitting duty. I could have just kept my mouth shut." She was talking to herself. Maybe Ryker had been accurate in accusing her of being soft.

The night fury moved his lips, his company's demeanor only creating more puzzlement as to why she had helped at her own volition. She then minutely slid her finger along her weapon, collapsing it into a small rod once more. Inquisitive eyes widening at the action, Toothless wondered how she had managed to shoot fire from the metal tip.

"Magic." Aquaria had caught his intent staring. Though it was obviously not magic, but pressurized gas, Nightmare gel, and oil that performed the feat. There were only seven effective blasts per canister before she would have to refill. And she had already used three. "We're even,  _dragon_." She seethed. Two more ingredients were still required and if she aimed to keep her promise of arriving before sundown, she'd have to hurry.

oOo

Claws digging into the skid marks on the soft earth she had been pacing across, Stormfly squawked quietly, rapidly blinking to adjust her eyes to the diminishing light. Every now and then, the dragon turned her head to center the riders in her line of vision. Nothing had disturbed them for the time being, but their real concern was invested in the hunter and dragon elsewhere on the island.

Hiccup could hear his breathing grow increasingly ragged, and the challenge of keeping Astrid's worry to a minimum was growing more and more impossible. Something traced his forehead, feathering a light touch down his face to his chin. Despite everything, a smile ghosted his lips. Daring to turn his head, the Viking discovered he was resting on something very soft. "If anything, you know, happens…" His jaw trembled, trying to form the sentence

Astrid had wrapped her arms around him tightly and pulled him up against her chest. Part of her reasoning was so that he would be comfortable; the other was the placebo concept that the tighter she held on, the harder it would be for his life to slip from her gasp. "We'll talk later." Astrid lowered her head until her cheek rested on his sweat-covered forehead, "Just don't move..." The inconsistencies in his breathing stabled to a point. Her eyes drifted to the bandage as a burning wave of fury washed over her cheeks.

She never should have placed even a droplet of trust in the huntress. The cost was far too great. Taking him to a healer, or Gothi on Berk would've increased his chance for survival, but now, with each passing instant, his existence dwindled. "I'm so sorry." Whispered the woman, holding tighter to his form.

"Wha—what for?" It was amazing that the croak of his voice was understood.

"It's all my fault, I shouldn't have even given any thought to…" What Hiccup assumed was his shuddering was actually the quavering of the body he was leaning against. "They need you. Berk, the dragons…" She begged, unsure if he even heard, "We need you." Quieter, "I need you." The woman's control was skidding fast.

"Astrid." His voice grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her back from the ledge. Astrid leaned down, her forehead pressing against his as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I love—…"

"Hope I'm not interrupting." Marginally more disheveled than earlier, Aquaria stepped through the entryway of the cave. Toothless bounded forward, circling his rider and gently nuzzling his arm. "With the cure or anything." Setting the container on the floor, she rolled it towards the Vikings.

Astrid snatched up the antidote instantly. Deep blue eyes glaring at the huntress, the blonde Viking helped place the rim of the cup to his lips, coaxing him to drink. Nearly choking on the bitter substance sliding down his throat, Hiccup gasped but didn't stir.

"It didn't work!" Astrid faulted her immediately. The night fury stomped the cavern floor, roaring so loudly the walls shook. Behind her, the deadly nadder puffed out its spiked tail in response to her rider's yell.

"For crying out loud. It is. NOT. MAGIC." Everyone withdrew, "He isn't going to suddenly jump up and perform a jig on command, but he will live." Aqua swept her gaze across the area, stopping on Toothless, who might have been the only living being able to somewhat vouch for her. "Find him a bed or some food." Did she have to walk them through caring for another person?

Wasting no time, Astrid helped her wounded companion mount Toothless and carefully climbed up behind him to slip her foot into the stirrup. She would be his support for the journey home. Admittedly, the color was beginning to return to his face, the pain having been extracted. "Um…"

Aqua smoothed her short, light colored hair down and swept her bangs away from her eyes, "Yes, I know. This changes nothing. Now please leave." The night fury must have given her a grueling run for her gold. With all of her devotion on Hiccup, Astrid only nodded. Getting him home was the prudent course of action.

Worried for his partner and beloved rider, Toothless flickered his gaze to the huntress fleetingly and took to the skies, convinced that there was more to her than she let on.

oOo

Finally glad to be rid of the nuisances, Aqua sauntered to the far west end of the island. It was the location she had struggled to keep them away from for the entire day. A neat row of cages held the inhabitant changewing dragons inside, all properly sedated and groggy from chemical influence. And the largest cage held the prized Titanwing changewing, unique for their sharper wings and striking shades, a stark contrast from the regular sized ones. Not only was she beaten and bruised from wrangling the enormous creature, but also procuring the cure for unexpected Riders nearly wrecked the entirety of her operation.

There were already ships appearing on the horizon. Her timing had been impeccable. Had these ships shown up while she was dancing around with the dragon riders, they would have baked her to a well-done crisp. But not after providing a thirty-minute presentation on never trusting her again.

"Does this place remind you of anything?" With a flock of dragon hunters on his heel, Viggo approached the girl, immediately initiating casual conversation.

"Yeah. It reminds me of that time you tied me to a tree in the dead of night and told me to track my way home." Home was a term she used loosely. He ignored the quip of recollection.

"Why did I ask you to come out here alone?" He heard the girl sigh as she checked the locks on the cages, careful not to fall victim to the fatal snap of a massive Titanwing jaw.

"It was a test." Aqua concluded assuredly. "To sharpen my skill." Adjusting the weapon on her belt, she didn't turn to face Viggo. "See how I'd do against prey that was faster, stronger, bigger, and more intelligent than the others." The sedated dragon growled menacingly in its confines. "Right?" Despite the sureness, she thought to ask for clarification anyways.

"Hmm. No." That got her full attention. "Well, I suppose you're not entirely wrong." Aqua wrinkled her nose, but listened. "I see the riders didn't disrupt your nicely laid plans." The only way he could have known of their attendance on the island was if he intentionally placed them there. Realization wove across her face at being purposely sabotaged, "You must always be prepared for multiple scenarios. The game can change at any moment, and prioritization can help you salvage what's at stake." She was used to him being vague, preachy, and of course referring constantly to his favorite game of Maces and Talons.

"You knew I'd help them." A flurry of overlapping questions hit her all at once. It was always an arduous task to predict his motives, but sometimes they just wholly evaded her. "That makes no sense." She didn't want to believe that this exercise was solely for her benefit.

"Patience."


	4. For the love of Thor, do not punch the submarip-ok, nO NoT THE Triple sTRYKE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> she's gonna fight everything

There was no order of verses she could string together to describe how much she hated participating in this game. Once in a while was a fair suggestion, but after years of facing an unbeatable opponent, Aqua was starting to hope that a meteor crashed onto the ship cabin she was sitting in. She inhaled, the familiar scent of musty worn wood and salty seawater calming her senses. Mounted heads watched her every move judgmentally, much like her challenger.

"What the matter, Aquaria, you look piqued." The situation was always dire whenever Viggo decided to address her by her full name. "It's your move." He reminded her. Two pieces were defenseless to capture, and any eager player would have jumped to claim their prize by now. Yet, after losing to the same person as frequently as she did, any move he made was disheartening. It wasn't that she was unbearably dreadful at Maces and Talons—in fact, she was a formidable match for any avid contestant, but facing Viggo was a whole other story. Quietly, she shifted her chosen piece, retreating on the board.

"Very nice, although not entirely unexpected." Perhaps he just enjoyed watching her unravel by saying things like this. Already accounting for every scenario at least two to three moves ahead, Viggo advanced a ship piece without hesitation. "If I may ask," His dark, imposing eyes inspected her consequent strategy from the piece she'd shifted, "Why do you always choose the  _honorable_  Viking chief?" Undeniably, that was something he did when playing against his grandfather long ago, but he hardly reasoned that their motivations were the same.

"What can I say? Habit? I'm fond of the Viking king." She never knew why he had to refer to it in such a grandiose way, and was almost positive his grandfather employed some method of cheating with the leader of the marauders.

"Fond, you say?" Placing down his Imposter piece to immediately strike out one of her hunters, the man scanned the pieces currently in play. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to lure away the last hunter away from her Viking chief piece.

"Do you really think Maces and Talons is the best indication of someone's ability as a strategist?" Viciously flicking away a one of his wooden pieces that ventured too close to her chief, Aqua picked up one of the tiny maces and inspected it.

"You don't?" He answered her question with a question.

"For a guy who hates metaphors, you really do like using them. What of the chiefs that didn't get to where they are by putting all of their pieces on the board in plain sight?" Aqua opened her hand, indicating to the playing board. "When your opponent's pieces are on entirely different, unseen region." Another piece fell stiffly sideways.

"And gambits risked would be across miles of ocean, yes." That was indeed how complicated the reality of it was. "Just to capture a singular pawn." He understood where she was coming from in the discussion. Leaning forward, he habitually stroked his neatly kept facial hair.

"If luck is on your side, a handful of—…" Mouth agape, Aqua hovered her hand over one of her hunters, doubt seizing her wrist. Her brain didn't even register as her fingers claimed the piece. Suddenly, the huntress stood so quickly, her wooden chair screeched in protest, ultimately tipping over to the planks. "I won." A tincture of emotions boiled behind the declaration. The most prominent being confusion.

"Well-played." Politely tapping his fingers against his opposite palm in applause, Viggo studied her countenance. She snapped her head up, hands flat on the table between them.

"You let me win." She lobbed.

"Or perhaps you're finally developing a semblance of skill in strategizing." He parried, accent more prominent in deeper tones. The man wasn't one to simply let her relish victory of any kind, even if it was earned. Aqua's next pitch was drowned out by a curt knock. "Ah, we've arrived." Calmly rising from his seat, "Come now, we've important matters to attend to." He stepped past her and the sideways chair.

The salt of the sea breeze attacked his senses directly. Viggo's soundless footfalls were steady against the undulating of the ship to the command of the ocean swells. Taking in the coordinates, he decided that they would suffice for what needed to be done on this mission. His young companion finally opted to join him, brows knit in evident contemplation. "Nostalgic?" Within her few moments on board, the girl had taken inventory of every detail available to her. Any nostalgia to be had was due to the fact that the two had first crossed paths on a ship similar to this one. Except this time, she wasn't an eight-year-old stowaway. "You have questions." Interpreting the situation correctly, he slid his eyes to her.

"I know you said we were keeping this discreet." Everything from the fact that Ryker wasn't invited along on this expedition to the sparse crewmembers aboard supported that theory. The three other hunters were also not defined as the sharpest blades in the armory. As well, they were almost in sight of what she remembered to be the mountainous side of the Edge—Dragon Rider's outpost. "What are we doing here?" For the work of piecing things together, she decided to keep it general.

"Call it a contingency plan." He motioned for the crewmembers to begin their assigned undertakings. "A relocation of sorts." Aqua narrowed her eyes at seeing the hunters lifting a large spherical container. It required all three men to carry the burden. Upon closer inspection, it was packed with unidentifiable sea creatures.

"You're trying to lure something?" The girl ventured a guess, "How do you know it's around here?" She felt moronic for asking such a question, "The dragon eye—sorry." Partially understanding the reason, Aqua still wanted to taper it to a complete understanding. "And this is the most optimal location." This mission was too underequipped and undermanned to trap a deep-sea dragon, so a luring made sense.

"Precisely."

Arms shaking from the exertion, the crew collectively grunted whilst trying to heave the enormous, sealed sphere over the side. "You see, the contents in that container are not only a favored food source, but when released, create a prime temperature environment that mimics the deep ocean." Did it have to be in this exact spot? Or a radius? She kept her curiosity to a minimum. "It will only last a week, but if I'm right, a week is all I need." He would have liked to narrow down the creature's location to shallower seas, especially if the predicted outcome forced his hand. As well, closing the distance between the future potential problem's arrival direction and this deep-sea dragon was wise. This was being overly detail-oriented, to be honest, but one of his rank could never be too careful.

"Wait! That thing won't deploy if you jam it like that!" The amount of scraping in the maneuver to roll it overboard had managed to slightly mangle the hard latch that was meant to release the bait. Everything would have been moot on this little field trip if the bait were stuck. Boots stomping on the deck, her dismay only increased as she saw the trap splash into the water like a dead weight.

Fear gripped the men upon seeing that the huntress did not falter in her progressing steps. However, instead of knocking them overboard with one sweep of her weapon, Aqua gracefully bounded onto the side.

"No! Aqua, stop!" Concentration aimed at the water, Aqua didn't perceive any type of panic in the voice that called for her.

"I'll be quick." Not passing up the chance to gift a glower to the present crew, the girl swung her legs over. "It's just a latch." Viggo ran forward, his usual deceptive lack of elaborate movements giving way to reveal lightning reflexes.

"You dare disobey a direct order from your chief, A—Blast it!" The fabric of her tunic evaded his grasp as her form dove over and into the sea, inaudible as a slender sword.

Open eyes stinging until the back of her head throbbed, she endured the sensation long enough to infer where the large vessel sank. Employing the power in her legs to close the distance, Aqua drew her weapon and extended the rod to its full length. Each movement depleted the supply of oxygen sensibly stored in her lungs. Both hands on the rod, she wedged it underneath the flat bolt of the sinking sphere. About four attempts wore it down enough to give way. A wave of fish guts mushroomed out of the opened vessel. Aqua let out a high-pitched noise of disgust.

Rib cage aching from the crushing pressure of holding her breath, the huntress began kicking away from the gruesome debris warming the water around her. If her sense of smell were intact, she imagined her consciousness would've melted into a rancid pile of goo.

"Um. Sir?" Hands pressed atop the side of the old fishing boat, the dragon hunter kept watch on the water surface. It was then that a foul stench permeated the air, rousing the men to protect their noses with collective groans. Viggo's lip curled in vile repulsion. Not too soon after this stench would the bubbles be visible, and the man would give the order to set sail.

Aqua rolled underwater from an unseen force, her near colorless hair flying around her head like an ethereal halo. That was the signal to exit stage… up. A greenish dot in the distance that only a squint of her eyes could reveal became apparent. She balled up her hands, as if ready to send her fist directly into the center of the mysterious dragon's snout. Scauldrons could be wrangled with an elevated chance of being doused in scorching hot water. Wringing its neck was a fathomable strategy, but with her oxygen supply, her excessive hubris needed to be curbed. She growled, bubbles rising from her mouth.

Logic and reasoning reached her at the last second and the girl pointed her staff down towards the sea floor, firing two blasts. Underwater, the attack translated to popping bursts of force that propelled her upwards.

There was a fine line between confidence and arrogance. His subordinate might as well have been straddling that line without a single care in the world. When she finally surfaced, one final blast from her weapon shot her out of the water, past the hull and into the wood with a crash, just close enough for her arm to hook over the ship's side. Her hand clutched the The ship was already moving, which revealed just how close they were to leaving her to fend for herself. What she had seen swimming about in the depths was a colossal beast of a dragon. If she had to speculate, it must have been a Submaripper. The woman flopped onto the deck with a thud.

Hardly permitting any time for her to cough and choke the burning water from her lungs, Viggo grabbed her tunic by the collar and hauled her roughly to her feet. The soaked soles of her boots squished when lifted completely off the wooden planks, clothing suffused with the stink of fish. As if that wasn't enough, the dragon hunter chief shook her like a ripe fruit tree, hoping to jostle any surviving brain cells. "You impudent girl! Have you any idea how foolish that was?" Dark eyes narrowed in rage, fists curling against her neck at the blatant disobedience he had witnessed.

"You're welcome!" Aqua scoffed in return, kicking her legs to wrench herself free, and stumbling back from the misjudgment of his hold, "Because I think you're supposed to say Thank you.  _Thank you for risking your life to make sure my plan didn't fall to pieces. The plan that I'm not going to divulge all of, because it's hypothetical_?" Her voice rose, under the impression that he should have been quite pleased to learn that she'd averted an inconvenience. "Isn't that why I'm here? The back-up-back-up plan?" Or rather, happier than this.

Ominously, Viggo clapped her shoulder with one hand, a muscle working in his jaw, "Thank you." He spoke concisely, a false calm pervading. Suddenly, he squeezed until his nails dug into her shoulder. Pain, and the possibility of a forming bruise, caused her to inhale sharply. "Do not  _ever_  do that again." The hunter menacingly spaced out each word to place the desired amount of emphasis. "Are we clear?" He still had further use for her, and frankly it would have been a shame to waste her rashly on such a menial task.

"But I thought that you'd—"

" _I said,_  are we clear?"

"Yes." Aqua pushed out through gritted teeth.

Now all that remained was to dispose of the ship and the surplus crew.

oOo

It was loud. Drunken exploits and gratuitous cheers were flung across the arena. Each bone shattering crash invigorated the crowd, sending them into a wild frenzy. Each announcement was their excuse to engage in more merriment. She found herself weaving through the bodies that reeked of stale sweat, intermingled with old mead. The vapor of cheap odors was thick, coating her tongue and throat upon inhalation with a sickly sweetness that would linger until nightfall. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, it often did not pay to have a sensitive nose. The coppery tinge of blood and the smell of acrid dragon root was much more to her liking, and the huntress was acutely aware of the fact.

There were eyes that purposefully picked her out amongst the crowd. Despite her sticking out like a sore thumb, vanishing in and out of sight was one of her many talents. Even some of the rowdy patrons had recognized her, resigning hurriedly from her walking path. Aquaria had been raised to dirty her hands and she did so with relatively no hesitation. Most people would have been unnerved, and to be completely fair, the ones that were aware of what she did in the comfort of the shadows were typically intimidated, if not utterly horrified, of the very mention of her name. It wasn't hard to build up a reputation when brutality was a customary hobby in her line of work, after all.

"If it isn't my brother's favorite lap-yak." Almond shaped eyes closed for a moment, initiating a calming measure for her. While Ryker didn't hold her in deep contempt, relinquishing some credit to her abilities, they were far from being nightly drinking buddies at a tavern. If it were up to him, she would have been disposed of long ago, but as his brothers' plans went, she had proved her usefulness a redeeming amount of times. Keeping her on his belt like a veiled weapon was an advantage. His dual swords glinted in the light as he finally turned to face her.

Purely in the spirit of ceremony, she bowed lightly and handed him the sack that had been in her care. The weight and tiny clinking from within painted a satisfactory expression on his visage. Were there one thing she appreciated about Ryker, it was that he was a man of few words, much less preachy and verbose than his younger brother. As long as his wealth and empire expanded at a satisfactory rate, he wasn't one to complain.

"Demoted back to errand duty, eh?" Aqua withdrew any hint of recommendation from prior. With all the training in the universe, it was still easy to read her. The dragon hunter laughed tauntingly, thick mustache curving with his smirk, thoroughly entertained by her poorly concealed disgruntlement. "And what exactly did y' do to rightly piss my little brother off?" Last she'd checked, Aqua did not take orders from the second-in-command, therefore not obligated to grace that jab with a response.

Her glassy eyes, hued blue at the rims averted. She knew better than to cross the hunter that could crush her skull unflinchingly with his bare hands. Combat was a prized talent she possessed, but another bout of arrogance would get her head slammed into the mud within moments. Needless to say, she had never bested the large man before her in a match of strength, but she strived for the future possibility.

"Take a wild guess." Aqua had sorted the many ways to vex the Chief dragon hunter, organized them by caliber and arranged them in a pyramid shape. Frankly, she could write a book. Disobedience ranked rather high, depending on the circumstance, it could have tied right into betrayal. A bored grunt acted as the reply, which was enough for her to end the conversation and take her leave. What was Ryker even doing over in the arena?

The answer presented itself in a far more dramatic way than she cared to spectate. Aqua glanced over, seeing a new challenger rolling aggressively in its cage. Literally, the dragon balled itself up and sheared full speed at the dragon root enforced cages.

"Meet the newest arena competitor. The Triple Stryke." This newest addition would bring in a mountain of gold for this venture of dragon fighting. She already disliked the idea of using dragons for this sort of impractical entertainment, and yet she lingered, eyes glued to the creature's pincers prying frenziedly at its confines. Its thick braided tail held her attention for a bit longer, seeing it slam against the cage like a whip.

"Enjoy yourselves." Waving a hand dismissively, the girl pivoted away. Alas, there were still surprises up the beast's sleeve that would keep her stuck on this island beyond her anticipation.

The distinct sound of a latch creaking, and hunters yelling in fruitless efforts to restrain the large dragon, forced her to turn. Her stance widened in an offensive preparation. Green, dragon root crafted weapons swung at the escaped beast. Apparently, its central nervous system expelled dragon root faster than normal. With ease, it untwisted its special tail into three and swatted away the swords like carelessly swung playthings. Aqua dipped and rolled to avoid a stray swipe of its, decidedly poisonous, appendage.

"Don't let it get away!" The crowd's notice had begun shifting away from the arena fight, and to the free show unfolding nearby. Bouncing agilely out of her roll, the woman snatched a bow and arrow. Setting her jaw and furrowing her brow, Aqua steadied her stance, firmly rooting herself in the dirt. A slow breath exhaled from her lips. In three practiced movements, she positioned the projectile, pulled the drawstring, and let the arrow soar.

"Oh… oops." She'd missed…. almost poorly enough for both parties of dragon and dragon hunters to freeze in their skirmish and frame a picture of her embarrassment. "Don't stop on my account…"

As if catching wind of her goals, the Triple Stryke began beating its powerful, dark mauve wings. None of the men toting heavy chains could get anywhere in proximity to shackle it down. It hopped to speed its ascent. Another arrow was let loose, striking its quarry in the wing. The attack grazed the tough scales, but was enough to disrupt the takeoff. Aqua didn't verbalize where she had been aiming. Instead, she seized the opportunity of disorienting it to race at it head-on.

A few hunters voluntarily stepped back in wonderment at the idea of the girl headbutting the dragon right between its crimson eyes. Inches away from collision, her body seemed to fluidly arch back, sliding underneath the Triple Stryke in a crouch. Deadly pincers snapping at the intrusion, the dragon retreated on its hind limbs, unsettled by not being able to keep the small huntress in its sights.

Springing up from her stooped position, Aqua slammed her fist against the underside of the massive dragon's jaw. Screeching at the devastating blow delivered to such a tender spot, the Triple Stryke could feel the arrow's toxin spreading throughout his system, exposing him to more vulnerability. Jumping off the floor and fully extending her arm fully added to the power of her physical strike.

The dragon's head snapped back, long ear appendages pointing downward in the sharp tilt. A clang sounded once the hunters clasped irons around its legs. Aqua grabbed one of its horns, using it to hoist herself up onto its back. Its focus split, enraged that the huntress had attached to him like a parasite, but distraught at the restraints successfully fastening him to the ground. Without foresight, the Triple Stryke slashed its telsons on the ends of its tails to at least knock her off or inflict a lasting injury— anything that would haunt her of his lethalness.

Aqua had slid off the dragon's back, eliciting a cacophonous roar as its own tail hook jabbed into its back. She retreated slowly as the hunter's metal and venom began to weigh it down. The narrow slits of its pupils followed her, placing every ounce of blame for its bleak destiny on her. It clicked its tongue reproachfully and she spun away.

"Guess y'aren't completely useless after all,  _lap-yak_." Ryker's comment echoed numbly in her head, obscured by an unpleasant knot in her gut. Aqua suppressed the budding emotion.

A huntress did not feel guilt.

oOo

_flashback_

Sour bile rose in her throat. It wouldn't have been a surprise if that lump stuck in her trachea were her spleen. Peering at her assailant through a lank curtain of snowy hair, the child held her stomach and choked back a sob.

"Oi. Maybe we should get rid o' her." From his voice, it was obvious that not all of his teeth weren't present, "Hasn't said anythin' useful. Prolly doesn't even know where the gold is." Two years she had been under the employment of dragon hunters and their chief, working as a messenger for shadier business dealings. Her sloppiness had gotten her caught by a marauding gang of bandits in control of this stretch of land.

She couldn't speak for the blood in her mouth. It gleamed red on the bandit leader's knuckles as he turned his hand over in the moonlight. The little girl drew her knees up to her chest, pressing against her worn, dirty tunic. Why hadn't they come to that conclusion a week ago when they wrung her for information on the hunter clan's gold stash?

Truthfully, she was granted access to that information by default due to some of her errands spanning to that location. She knew exactly where the wealth was hidden. But it would take more than this to make the little bird sing.

"Ye. Waste of time." A few more brutes chimed in on the decree. "Whelp almost took my whole finger off." When not starving to death, the girl had been a force to be reckoned with. "It's a simple enough question." The men chortled at her suffering, speaking indistinctly just out of earshot. Half of her face stained with mud from the cage floor. She strained to pick up on the conversation, not sure why it mattered.

"But first a drink!" At least, that's what it sounded like. Celebrating her demise was not unprecedented, to be sure. If anything, their festive attitudes delayed her fate. A chorus of forceful gagging soon rose from her captors. Either that or she was having auditory hallucinations on a severe level. Fighting valiantly against the agony overwhelming her tiny frame, the child pushed herself up to figure out her surroundings.

The bandits collapsed, one by one, gurgling deep in their throats. Some clawed madly at their collarbones, leaving thin pink marks on their broad chests. Falling like pieces on a game board, a few still scrambled in the grime, crawling forth a measly distance before planting their faces into the dirt.

A round wooden serving tray fell to the floor and a deceptively soft voice spoke near her ear, "Did you deliver the box as you were told?" Flinching at the close proximity, the girl nodded, imagining that the hooded figure was sent to tie up the hunter's loose end—namely, her. There was no way the bandits would develop such a ruse to get her to spill information. The cloaked hunter regarded her decrepit status and must have considered killing her to be a meaningless effort.

"I didn't tell them where the gold was." She blurted to make her case, pawing at the scale holding her life in the balance. "I didn't say anything." Her voice was nothing more than a pathetic squeak.

" _Oh_?" The voice was calm and collected, a façade that masked a most chilling demeanor. She'd been in captivity for a week yet sustained the willpower to withstand torture. As rudimentary as the torture probably was, one couldn't deny the damage, "You couldn't have, even if you wanted to." Indeed, the information she withheld with all her might was false. It was a pity, but intriguing nonetheless. Divulging the location to a loose lipped juvenile would backfire no matter how one looked at it.

"Are you here to kill me?" The child had pondered asking the opposite out of optimism. She'd seen how high ranking members of the hunters dealt with failure from their subordinates. Rather dismayed that the secret she fought to hide was untrue to begin with, she wilted like a drowning flower.

Hovering close by, he knelt, further convinced of her potential. He pushed back his cowl to grant her the minimal reprieve of seeing a familiar face.

"Not today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. Heather and Huntress sittin' in a cave, K-I-S-S-I-what? no?

"Windshear! Hold on girl, I'll get you outta there." Sparing no expense, Heather unhinged her double axe and hacked feverishly at the jade-green lock. The Razorwhip thundered in response, swinging her iron plated head against the cage. The dark-haired woman's ribcage ached from falling off her dragon. They knew better than to get caught in a hunter's trap, but there was undoubtedly, strength in numbers. Each crash of her blade against the reinforced metal sent sparks flying in all directions. She yelled upon delivering her blows, convinced it'd buff her strength just enough to dent the cage.

Tail swinging like a whip, Windshear threw her whole body against the side, eager to help add to the enthusiasm of her rider. The cage had been rigged perfectly without a single hunter in sight. However, it wouldn't be long before they arrived to see what had sprung their well-laid trap. Trying to disguise her exhaustion, the rider produced a metal pin from her satchel, jamming it into the keyhole impatiently. "Just give me… one… second. Ugh!" Delving into the concentrated task, she didn't notice the huntress emerge.

The Razorwhip protectively growled, issuing a warning that could not be fully followed through in her current confines. Heather whirled so quickly she almost staggered.

" _You!_ "

Aqua held up an ornate key, a creation of her own development, to fit perfectly into one keyhole. "We've got to stop meeting like this." Without a hint of humor in her greeting, the huntress wiggled the key provokingly. "I'll give you the key…"

Heather sensed a "but" coming from miles away. "Or I'll just take it!" She was taking no chances, adrenaline hurling her forward and into the target at full force. Literally rolling with the assault, Aqua fell purposely to her back. Closing her hands around Heather's axe handle to keep the blades from shredding her to pieces, the huntress pushed with all of her strength. She continued to rock back until she could bend her knees and drive her boot soles into her attacker's midsection, tossing her off with ease.

The dragon's anxiety amplified tenfold at seeing the huntress draw her own weapon. It snapped to life, extending into a featureless rod. Neither were fooled by its simplicity, especially when she swung it at such a neck breaking speed that the impact against Heather's weapon vibrated all the way up her arms, to her rattled skull.

Aqua leapt forth, using one hand to cartwheel. Her opposite arm built up the momentum in her weapon from the somersault to strike.

The Rider staggered back, slipping down an incline. She recovered and retaliated instantly. Her blade took out a chunk of stone where her opponent's head should have been. Heather's reflexes rivaled the huntress, both trading blows of equal caliber. Eventually, only the raven-haired woman intrepidly assaulted her opponent, getting progressively more frustrated as the small, nimble hunter evaded her strokes. If her plan was to sap her stamina, it was working. Windshear's urgent bellows grew distant and Heather's focus pinpointed to one thing.

"Stop!" Heather ran up a slant and sprang agilely off the edge, axe raised above her head "Moving!" She missed, but it was enough to distract from her actual plan of attack. Tackling Aqua down with a battle cry, the Rider toppled off almost immediately from the unprecedented shaking of their surroundings.

At first it was just one wobbly rock that had slid down to where they were. A few more lurched and tumbled down in rapid succession, prompting both contenders to focus on their own balance rather than mauling each other.

The canyon began to crumble and the two girls stumbled into one another. Growling, Aqua grabbed her current companion by the wrist and sprinted, narrowly dodging the crushing boulders that destroyed the plateau they had been standing upon a second ago. "Let go! I can run myself." To prove that very point, Heather raced past Aqua with a scowl painted darkly on her features. She'd have to do more than yank her away from some falling rocks to gain any semblance of civility.

Both skidded to a stop upon seeing mountainous stones slide into their path, barring them from escaping. A sturdy pillar, disturbed by the shift of terrain, cracked at the base and sloped dangerously to the side. "No!" Heather yelled. Simultaneously ducking to avoid another blast of wreckage, the two searched for a slot of an exit. Heather made to run for the lethal cascade of rubble, but was held back with a yelp. Aqua snatched her hood and pulled her down to hunker near a slanted column.

Once the rumbling storm of dust settled, Heather was the first to stand. Covering her mouth with her arm and squinting in the darkness, she coughed to expel the bits of powder clinging to the back of her throat. "This can't be happening…" Running her hands along the solid walls surrounding her, Heather ran around the perimeter, feeling for anything bigger than a crack to squeeze past. "Gods…" A thick sheet of jagged stone obscured the sky, capping them inside an enclosed dome of blackness. Spinning as hopelessness pinched her expression, the dark-haired girl refused to accept defeat. She swung her axe, chipping a minuscule piece away from the stone. When that failed, she slammed her fists onto the cold, hard surface.

Climbing was futile, as the unsteady pieces would send her tumbling back down to square one. She hadn't even noticed that her legs liquefied under her, sinking her gradually to the ground. Heather swallowed, re-evaluating her tactic in her descent.

"Don't forget, this is your fault." At this point, Aqua was just drawing amusement from stoking the girl's volatile flame.

" _My fault_?" Heather sat up straight, a barrage of insults at the ready.

"If you weren't swinging your axe around like a Smokebreath with a shiny new toy, the canyon might not have collapsed." Aqua presented as a matter-of-factly.

"You…you started all of this! You trapped Windshear, lured me to the canyon, and you're going to say this is my fault?!"

"Why don't you yell louder to bring down what's left on us?" Her current company huffed, looking around. "If I had gold for every time you riders and your dragons have made something collapse on me." They were sealed in by the demise of the canyon. Neither even dared to light a warm fire for fear of oxygen depletion.

Heather hated to say it, but upon feeling the resistance in her lungs to suck in air, she began to hope that maybe they'd be uncovered by nosey dragon hunters. Her heart cinched at the automatic thought of Windshear. The Razorwhip was counting on her to return, and the notion of leaving the dragon alone was more painful that she could bear. Even her resentment had waned to pave way for tremendous concern. The more she dwelled on it, the deeper a hole drilled into her chest.

A soft hiss of frustration interrupted her pervasive thoughts. Slightly lifting her head from her hands, Heather observed for a fleeting moment as the huntress awkwardly tried to re-do a buckle on the strap across her back. In spite of facing the other way, the raven-haired woman could tell that her company's countenance was twisted in pain. Lips pursed, she assessed the red stained bandage on Aqua's shoulder, which was obviously giving her trouble in trying to properly reach the strap.

"Stop moving." The snowy haired huntress frowned; breath hitching as there was a tug on the leather strap she'd been fiddling with. Heather reached over her shoulders from behind, taking the leather strap and carefully looping it under her injured arm. Swiftly, she fastened it to Aqua's form, unwilling to sit there and watch her fumble about. She then repositioned it out of habit for a comfortable feel, slipping her fingers under to gauge the fit.

"Um." If she had to venture a guess as to what was running through her companion's mind, it wasn't good. "Thanks." Stiffly expressing her gratitude, Aqua dipped her chin at an angle to catch a glimpse of her assistant, who was now pushing the strap away from her injured shoulder.

"Don't mention it." Muttered the girl, "I mean it. Don't." Suddenly disconcerted to an alarming degree, Heather vied for a change of subject. "So wh-what is this life debt you seem to owe to Viggo?" If they were going to die, there might have been no harm in prying, or she just really didn't want to linger on the "moment" that had been exchanged. "Must've made a heck of a good first impression…" She was fishing blindly as she completely withdrew her hands from the hunter's back.

"Not really. I tried to kill him." Agreeing to indulge in the change of subject, Aqua finally graced her with a reply.

"Wait? What? You had him and didn't kill him?" Her eagerness was apparent, learning that they could have been spared a world of problems with his premature death. Fist clenched, Heather resisted the urge to slam it against the nearest wall, "I mean, why didn't you?" Was it a change of heart? Or was it by the powers of influence?

"Kids, you know?" Aqua sat down against the cavern wall, "Not too great at cold-blooded murder." A splintered shard of wood had been her weapon in her impulsive dive of ambition ten years ago. "Clumsy hands. Flimsy resolve." She counted on each finger the reasons for her failure.

"What about your family?" Genuinely wondering of their whereabouts, Heather tugged at her braid.

"What about yours?" Aqua reflected, figuring she had answered once, and this was a give-take conversation they were conducting.

Air blew from her puffed cheeks at the mere mention of family situations, "It's complicated." She thought of her brother, who she had recently come to terms with, and then their missing father. Presuming he had been dead for so long when the opposite was urged to be true was hard to take in. "Windshear is my family. I'd do anything for her." It was terrifying the lengths she would go to for her Razorwhip's protection. She'd claw her way out of this cave with raw, bloody fingers and torn nails if she had to.

"She's your family by something not quite as convenient as blood. I can respect that." The two exchanged a glance that one could almost deem as understanding. "I never did comprehend why blood was so important." Speaking with no empathy, as a child who had no remaining relatives, Aqua pulled out her collapsed weapon and examined it.

"It means you're connected—intertwined in a way that no one else could ever be in the whole world. It's pretty special." Heather piped up immediately, proposing an insight to family.

"Does that connection negate the love you've developed with others you aren't related to?" It was a concept she pondered, having been in the company of two brothers for the vast majority of her life. She tilted her chin up, formulating an example, "Say your brother, whom you hardly know or would have cared for if he weren't your brother, tried to slay your…" She gestured vaguely, "Windsmear."

"Windshear." Yes. That. "I-I wouldn't let anyone hurt her. Even him." Brother or not. "Besides, he wouldn't do that." They were speaking in hypotheticals. "And what do you know about love anyway?" Her biting tone resurfaced, imagining what cruelty the huntress was capable of and the atrocities committed at such a young age.

"Love is known by when it hurts to say goodbye." Silence settled and Heather lifted her brows in mild confusion. Aqua, as well, caught the shift in energy and spluttered in defense, "I read that in a book." One of her favorites, in fact.

"Actually sounds nice." The huntress opened her mouth, nearly offering to lend the volume to her, but quickly caught herself. "So uh," She coughed lightly, trying to keep her mind occupied from the lack of oxygen. Heather pressed a flat palm against the stones that encircled them, rapping on a few to test their sturdiness. "You were found by the hunters as a kid?" Gauging whether that was better or worse than being utterly alone, the woman tried to shift one of the smaller rocks. "Ugh!" Clumps of dirt quickly filled the gap she created.

"Mm." Aquaria confirmed.

"No offense, but what use would a bunch of hunters have for a kid?"

"They're tiny and inconspicuous." Heather stopped her self-assigned task out of request for her to elaborate. The rider's face scrunched on the right side in trying to picture the various definitions to encompass those two words. "I was a spy, more or less. I also ran the more… undisclosed errands. " She had started off as a messenger of sorts, before able to prove herself in a more worthwhile fashion.

"And they'd trust you with those? You'd think that a high-ranking member would be entrusted with those kinds of dealings."

"You'd be surprised how effectively you can manipulate a grateful child with no one else to go to." The dark-haired rider frowned, placing her younger self in Aqua's boots. Heather was no stranger to solitude, and the yearning of acknowledgement from at least one soul would have been treasured dearly. "No one ever really looks twice though." Especially at children, "And if I were caught, none of those high-ranking people you mentioned would be troubled by it." What a strange subsistence.

"Were you ever caught?"

"Yes. Once."

Never again.

oOo

Heather was starting to pace, fidgetiness getting the best of her in a cramped space. How long had they been down there? The time of day was indeterminable. An educated guess would constitute about eight hours. Their wide topic of conversation had dwindled from the lack of food, water, and oxygen. As well, while Aqua had remained motionless in energy conservation, Heather did the exact opposite. Even now she was shoving herself against the jagged surface of an immovable boulder.

Aqua repositioned her chin on her hands, sliding her eyes away from the Rider in sheer secondhand embarrassment. "Not like this…" In the silence of the enclosure, anything—even a whispered prayer of imploration—was audible to inattentive ears. "I…" The huntress adjusted her gaze.

"I'm going to lose her too."

Barely gasped out on a stifled sob, those words alone tuned a string inside of Aqua's heart and struck it pointedly.

"No." Heather met her eyes, resonating with a sentiment entrenched within her soul. "No you're not." Never imagining she'd have a speck of anything in common with a hunter, the woman watched as Aquaria drew her weapon.

"What are you—" Disassembling the rod with a few calculated twists, she slid out what looked like three cylindrical canisters from inside the hollow rod. At a loss for snarky comments, and mesmerized by the ongoing process, Heather squinted. The idea dawned on the rider instantaneously with Aqua using twine to secure two of the canisters to her legs and returning the third to her weapon.

"Absolutely not—whatever it is you're thinking…" Was she really one to turn down the twinkling prospect of escape? With no regard whatsoever to Heather's caution, the huntress aimed her weapon straight up and fired. A single ball of blue flame spouted from the staff's end, exploding against the cavern roof.

Throwing her arms up as cover, the Rider yelled various unheeded phrases of protest, instinctively inching closer as their surroundings shuddered. She craned her head to stare at the jutting ledge of rock above them, sunlight shooting in from the newly created hole. A deft swing of the staff swatted away some falling debris.

"Hurry up!" Aqua held out her hand for the woman to take. While she did not accept, she did edge even closer. With the disturbance in its fragile structure, the cavern began to collapse on itself. At around this moment, from looking between the gap and the huntress, Heather became fully cognizant of her plan.

"What're you going to do?  _Carry me_?" Not caring to keep her voice low anymore to prevent  _exactly what was happening right now to their surroundings_ , the dark-haired woman scoffed indignantly.

"We have to get up there…  _now_."

"You're smaller than me, don't—" Heather cut herself off with a shriek at being swept into her arms with minimal effort. "Aqua! Don't you dare!" She shrilled, eyes wide.

Flying without a dragon was certainly a feat she had never accomplished before. The ground beneath her disappeared. Heather pressed her eyes and lips shut to guard from the blowing dust.

The duo soared out of the wreckage, reaching the acme once the concentrated pressure and blaze in the canisters depleted. They seemed to suspend in a hover for a moment before plummeting to the earth. Both trusted their armor, separating and tumbling down the outer side of where they had been trapped. The dome space they had occupied a moment ago flooded, leaving not much more than a mound of dirt.

Sore shoulder radiating down her whole arm from the smash, bang, flops, and tumbles—maybe not in that order, Aqua pushed herself up to a shaky standing position. "I'm starting to understand what Viggo means by reckless…foolish…." More choice words popped into her head, "Impulsive… puerile."

"We're alive!" Heather threw her head back in a laugh, grabbing her companion and pulling her in for a tight embrace. The huntress went as stiff as a board as the berserker woman squeezed. Her foggy blue eyes went wide and round like battle-shields. "It was crazy—no, totally impossible! I can't believe that plan actually worked." She smelled vaguely like metal and fresh flowers. There was no denying the warmth that swarmed her at the gesture. "Oh!" Pulling away, the dark-haired girl studied Aqua's visage.

"Who do you think I am?" She brushed off the excitement, but could not swipe off the red tinting her cheeks.

"Oh yeah!" Heather fixed her with such an intense stare that the huntress was taken aback.

"Wh-what?" Aqua's eyes rolled back, consciousness departing from her body, snatched away by an unseen force.

Technically, it was a seen force. Heather's fist didn't relax even after the huntress crumpled to the floor. She'd punched her with all the spite she'd stored in the past few hours. Not wasting a second, the woman rummaged through the girl's pockets, yielding the object of her search.

"Yes! I'm coming, girl." She bounced up, key in hand, "I am most definitely  _not_  sorry for that." With those parting words for the huntress, Heather bounded off.

oOo

The joy in Windshear's scrambling over the return of her rider swelled Heather's heart. "I'm so sorry it took so long." Turning the key with a click and popping the lock with ease, the woman laughed in relief. Plated head ramming against the cage door, the dragon crooned happily, curling her muzzle into Heather's embrace. "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through for this." She'd be lying if she said it was absolutely, purely unbearable.

"Let's go." Swinging her leg over her dragon's lowered form, the two took off. Motives in tandem, they moved as a unit, slamming into the cage with an influence that sent it flying over the cliffs and into the sea. Grinning contentedly over the black and blue parting gift she'd left with the huntress, Heather drew her arm back and chucked the key into the azure waves below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!


	6. Dad Jokes and Dangerous Discoveries

Crafting a viable explanation for the bruise under her eye had been easy enough. Most were quick to accredit it to a blunder out in the field, while the other half was too scared to ask. Upon remembering the truth, a bubbling embarrassment boiled her insides. It was hard to keep a hood on at all times to conceal the upper half of her face and deflect any glances or inquiries. Ryker was sure to get a good hearty laugh at it, and admit to jealousy that he didn't inflict the honking bruise himself. Impressed at the Rider, much to her dismay, Aqua tenderly pressed the pad of her index finger to the edge of the discoloration on her face. The slightest twitch in her cheeks was her only evidence of pain.

Graciously stepping around a hunter being dragged kicking and screaming from Viggo's tent, going on about not wanting to die, the girl continued unfazed. There might have also been another bit about doing better in the near future. Most of those around could have guessed at his nonexistent future.

She halted in front of the tent entrance, hearing two voices inside. From the stark contrast in volumes, it was indeed a disagreement. Moonlight cascaded off the intricately carved dragon heads atop each outside support. The display was much less foreboding than when they first towered over her many years ago. Candlelight flickered past the tent flap. The huntress caught the tail end of the conversation, all too used to such condescension in overflowing doses.

"I know your position on the issue, but thankfully, as  _Chief_ , choosing to heed such… pitiful advice is an entirely different matter." Her foot slid in the dirt, shifting her weight back. The woman knew better than to eavesdrop.

"Yeah—your obsession is a good way to get yourself and everyone 'round ya killed" Unsure if the warning was coming from a place of concern or not, Aqua took a step back. "Admit it. You underestimated 'em.  _Again_ " A shadow shifted within the tent, followed by a crash. "An' what have we to show for it?" Destroyed operations, sunken cargo, and a flurry of released dragons that proved invaluable to their business. Anyone with half a brain could formulate a response to that.

"If you had been paying any attention, you might actually come to realize that this project takes into account those…" There was a second of contemplation "…errors" For lack of a better word. Each experience only fortified any future plan of attack.

Aqua had debated returning at a later time. She herself had limited knowledge on the project they were discussing just within earshot. Most of her info was on a need-to-know basis. There were those in this world molded to be leaders, and those destined to be followers. And Aquaria made for the most exemplary follower.

"So why don't you stick with what you know," Another blatant stab at his overall aptitude. "And do as I say." He ended the conversation. "It suits you." Hearing Viggo pleasantly dismiss his older sibling, Aqua glided back further to avoid being knocked to the ground.

"We'll see about that, brother." Rage steaming off in waves from his large stature, Ryker swung his arm to throw open the tent, rattling its wooden frames. He hadn't even afforded a moment to give the girl waiting at the entrance a hard time for listening in on the conversation and/or the contusion she'd sustained. Standing as motionless as a marble statue, the huntress slipped her hand past the tent slit and parted it just enough to step inside. Few individuals would survive an unannounced admission into the Chief's private office.

His back was to her, hands clasped tightly behind him. "Everything alright?" Not that he would ever command her to punch Ryker, but Aqua would be lying if she said she wasn't holding out hope. "You seem tense…er."

"Don't concern yourself, Aquaria." In spite of his nonchalance, a kernel of sincerity embedded itself in the suggestion. "The litany of grievances is always lengthy whenever my dear brother is involved." Scanning a half folded map on his desk, he kept his peripherals on the young huntress crossing to his desk. "I need you to supervise a shipment of the utmost importance tomorrow." A satisfactory nod confirmed the mission acceptance, no questions asked.

"You seem well this evening." He glanced up, scrutinizing her presentation. From the stiffness in one shoulder to the minute tear at the end of her tunic, there was plenty to be criticized. Many individuals took pleasure in capitalizing off her disgruntlement. And Viggo was definitely one of them.

"I'd say I'm annoyed." She murmured, purely for the sake of responding.

"Well, hello annoyed, I'm Viggo." A loud choking noise closed the only pathway she had to breathe, as a sizeable amount of saliva had shot down the wrong hole. Brows raised, the man lifted his head to fully witness her expression, which was one of abject horror, tinged with bewilderment. She looked at him with utter betrayal in her eyes as if he'd just taken up his sword and run her through.

"Wha—" Aqua coughed, "Why—" Had he purposely cracked such a ghastly joke, or was it a part of a newly adopted speech pattern of his she knew nothing about. The man stared evenly at her, and if she didn't know any better, he almost looked gratified by the reaction. Making to excuse herself to quell the rest of the rest of her fit, Aqua shuffled back the way she came.

"What are your thoughts on Hiccup?" Mouth covered with her arm, the huntress tilted her head at the sudden exposition of the Viking.

"Why do you ask?" She swallowed to test the sensitivity in her throat.

"I'd simply prefer a second opinion from someone I trust." The hunter chief carefully arranged his rare compliment, as saccharine as fresh honey. In evaluating the inner circle of allies he had, Aqua's allegiance had remained steady, but there would always be doubt.

"I think you're madly in love with him." Her answer was met with a growl disguised as a heaved sigh, "That was a quip. I was joking." Wordlessly crossing his arms over his chest and donning a stern countenance clearly indicated he was in no mood for her retorts. "He's resourceful, a quick thinker, and would be a valuable asset as a hunter." She paused, "His deep emotional ties with the dragons and other riders…."

"Make him vulnerable." Viggo finished. Nothing he didn't know already.

"No…" Tentatively disagreeing, Aqua hung her arms by her sides, fingers twitching at the research she'd personally conducted on the riders.

"No?" His dark, foreboding gaze met her glacial blue eyes. "You're going to defend that weakness?"

"His sentimentality emboldens him." He'd asked for her opinion, and as unformulated as it was, he was going to get it. "In a battle with someone who is fighting to protect something, like Hiccup," She held her hands up, balancing the opposites, "against someone who isn't… only one of those parties will do  _whatever it takes_  to win. Even if it means their death." Aqua concluded, "And I don't think that's weakness." If anything, it made him a very scary opponent.

"So what you're saying is you'd die for our cause." Rather bothered by her rationalization, the man rhetorically backed her into a corner.

"Of course." He found himself unsure how to feel at the supremacy in her retaliation.

"Care to explain your encounter with the Riders?" Two fingers revolving near his left eye to mirror hers, Viggo regarded her with a pinch of dissatisfaction.

"How'd you know I was with a Rider?" Pushing her hood back since it did absolutely nothing to keep the purplish, green mark staining her left cheekbone out of sight, Aquaria scowled. It was a harrowing visual reminder of her mistakes.

"Hm. I  _didn't_." His voice was low, precise. He had guessed the plural form, and yet she had confessed to only coming across merely one Rider. "Now," A flat palm slammed so harshly on the table that the legs shook, jostling the liquid inside of a wooden cup and rustling his papers, "I'd like to know how my Huntress was bested by  _one_  Rider." Any excuse her brain churned up was nowhere near sufficient, and she knew that. Resisting the urge to shrink back slightly at the mighty projection of his voice, Aqua screwed her face.

"I was caught off guard."

"In combat?" More than a hint of acid sharpened his tone at the edges. After the grueling physical exercises he had put her through over the years, he expected more.

"Not exactly."

"Willpower, then?" Either way, she had been beaten, and he was taking the time to rub salt in it. Rounding the table to where she was standing, still as stone, the man seized her chin, manipulating it to the side to take in the discoloration. "Do not lie to me." Being that he versed her in the art of deception, accomplishing such a feat against him was near impossible. In a way, her failure reflected negatively on him.

"It won't happen again." She stated firmly.

"Ensure it does not."

oOo

Delivering a shipment across the sea to one of their designated construction sites had gone off without a hitch. The only complaint Aqua had repeating in her head was the lengthiness of the ordeal. It had taken nearly three days to navigate the waters, and would be the same upon their return.

Selling dragons was a dangerous and prolific business. However, the business part of it had never been her top marked performance. Nevertheless, she sailed across the turbulent ocean, vigilant for the approach of dragon riders shielded within the scattered clouds. Upon reaching the isle with their cargo, the huntress saw her mission through and prepared for the journey home.

She had brought along a crew of twenty, all of which were exhausted from their taxing occupation and were now indulging in drink at the local tavern. Seeing no reason to account for their tasks any longer, the huntress headed off to scout the north side of the island. Across the stretch of seawater, there was another smaller island that loomed in the distance. Unable to bear the company of rowdy hunters for the evening and given that her duties were complete, she boarded her modified slalom sled and made for the uncharted island.

The lush vegetation for such a remote area was to be expected. Thriving under the circumstances, trees stood taller than any she'd come across. Some bent with age and pliability of their trunks into an enchanting archway, heralding entry to another realm. With the gradual spread of the dragon hunting enterprise, it wouldn't be long before the dragons of this island were subdued and sold. Aqua knelt, fingers grazing one of the leaves sprouting from the root of a tree.

One quick flick of her dagger let her collect the herbs into her satchel. Some of the sap from these trees would soothe the dull ache on her cheekbone. Future potential for injury always existed, and it never hurt to be prepared. Nimbly scaling a crooked tree trunk, the huntress plucked a vibrant flower blossoming from the trunk's split. Her exploration led her to a cave. This island would have been ideal for a dragon root operation. There was an appropriate amount of sunlight, prime for harvesting, and the soil was conducive to varietal plant growth.

Advancing into the cave with light footsteps, the huntress listened for signs of life or anything that would be detrimental to it. Something such as a toxin spewing plant or aggressive volcano would make this island unlivable. She lurked in the shadows, waiting for her eyes to adjust before proceeding.

A twinkle towards the back of the cave pushed her to walk faster. "Ahh!" A misstep and grave miscalculation helped her realize that she had been standing on the precipice of a large, gaping hole. Twisting with the help of her lightning reflexes, the huntress dug her fingers into the jagged cliff face, miraculously gaining a foothold before sliding to her death. Against her better judgment, she whipped around to look over her shoulder. Nothing but a black void greeted her below. Moving her gaze upwards and across the expanse of emptiness, she saw the sparkle still in the same spot.

If she were a reasonable human being, she would have used her remaining stamina to climb back up and leave the cavern. Unfortunately, curiosity, and perhaps greed, was in play at center stage now. "How do I get there…?" Tightening her grip with her right hand, Aqua unhooked her weapon with her left hand.

The glittering object was deeper into the chasm. For all she knew, it could have held no value, but she was already invested at this point. Movements flowing into one another, Aqua let go of her safety ledge and took hold of her collapsed weapon with both hands. She'd have to be quick if this were to have any chance of succeeding.

She leapt off, extending the weapon at the same time, and jamming it against the wall she'd just let go of. The force added just enough spring to take her halfway across. Finally, Aqua unleashed a spout of flame from the end of the rod, which propelled her almost the rest of the way. The remaining distance depended on her arm reach. "Ohh I didn't think this through." She commended herself sarcastically, arms aching from stabilizing herself.

Her target was not more than a sword length below her. The huntress descended and squinted, aware that the sunlight filtering in past the vines covering the cavern top and entry were fading with the day's end. It was a smooth stone deeply entrenched into the crater wall, clearly not uniform with the rocks surrounding it. Weapon back on her belt, Aquaria ripped away the knotted vines that covered it like a net. The task of carving out the find was a race against sunset and depletion of endurances. Chipping away at the pieces surrounding it only revealed more of the stone.

Aqua hadn't noticed how heavily she was breathing, nor how her legs and singular support arm were trembling from the effort. Taking a break, the girl curved herself against the cavern wall, cheek pressing against her prize. "What the—" There was warmth inside. At learning this, she hacked away faster. Pieces of stone flew away and the huntress finally wiggled her trophy from the cold grasp of the mountain. "Its an egg?" How long had it been in there? Whatever it was, it was ancient and dead.

Employing the same tactic to return to the chasm edge, minus the use of one of her hands to cradle the egg, Aqua hoisted herself up with her weapon arm. Allowing herself a soft groan, the woman massaged her arms and recovered for a moment before inspecting the dragon egg. It was smooth, without any ridges or dents, despite its position. How it had ended up practically stuffed into the center of the earth, she didn't know. At the market, it would fetch a nice price, if she could determine what should have slumbered within. As an antique, fossilized collector's item, the cost would skyrocket in some circles. There were all sorts of characters across the archipelago that would pay a hefty sum of gold to add to their assorted oddities.

The rest of the evening consisted of laying out traps that would ensnare any trespasser within fifty paces. Sleeping on the forest floor was commonplace for her. She'd return in the morning to oversee the departure. Shoving the smooth egg into her satchel, the huntress slipped into her makeshift cloth sack she'd fashioned for sleeping in cold environments.

oOo

"She's winning!" Practically jumping up and down in unbridled enthusiasm, the Viking gasped. Heather's mouth curved into a smirk, but didn't dare respond to the cheer, keeping all of her strength endowed in her right arm.

"No she's not!" Snotlout interjected, a pinprick of worry in his tone, "I'm just giving her a head start?" Forearm flexing outward from his opponent pushing against it, the Rider attempted to push back with his own strength. He had held her hand midline for a while, but was starting to bend is wrist back from the opposition.

"Oh give it a rest, Snotlout." Her voice was strained as well, but not at all lacking in vigor. "Say goodbye…" Elbow firmly against the wooden table, wrist steeled, Heather squeezed Snotlout's hand and drove it down towards the table, "To your hair!" A loud thud shuddered the table as the back of her opponent's hand slammed against its surface. "Yes!" A metal clang sounded when the shell of her arm-guard made contact with Astrid's in revelry.

"Not even a competition!" The blonde proudly declared.

"Heather wins the arm wrestling match!" Throwing his arms to the air, Fishlegs announced the attained victory with a joyful laugh. Meatlug joined in, purring happily and letting her tongue loll out.

"Sister, if you'll do the honors." Tuffnut bowed to his twin who slowly began to approach Heather with a knife. Their two-headed dragon exchanged mutual amused glances.

"Wh—hold on, the loser is supposed to get their hair shaved off." Heather frowned, leaning away from the twin, clearly eager to use the knife one way or another.

"What? That's lame. I thought the winner did." Narrowing her eyes disappointedly, the lanky woman twirled the knife, "What's the point of winning then?" She shrugged, turning the blade on Snotlout. "Oh well!" Mortified, her target made to hop up and escape.

"H-h-hey! I demand a rematch! I hadn't stretched yet." Retreating until the back of his heel almost dipped off the edge of a platform, the man yelped, "Hookfang!" No assistance was provided from his Monstrous Nightmare as the widely grinning woman crept closer. "Not the hair! Not the face!" Waving his arms wildly, the Rider let loose a girlish screech.

"Alright  _what_ —I…. shudder to ask—is going on here?" The brunette knew better than to ask when certain members of his team were involved, but he just had to know. For example, why was Ruffnut straddling Snotlout with a knife while everyone else was celebrating? "I know Snotlout can be a… Snotlout, but murder is never the answer."

"Hey!" The man protested.

"Relax Hiccup, they were just arm-wrestling. Loser gets their hair cut off." Chuckling, Astrid figured they wouldn't cause each other any real, lasting harm.

"Oh… if that's all." Leaning on his good leg, "Heather, I think you need to take a look at this." In his hand was a rolled piece of parchment, addressed to her. Brows furrowed, the woman accepted the letter, unfurled it, and perused the lettering. Bright green eyes widening, Heather exhaled in a soft scoff.

"It's… from… the Huntress." Yes, the woman that she had punched perfectly in the face and left for dead. "She wants to meet…" Crinkling the worn paper with her grip, the Rider studied the rudimentary map scribbled at the bottom in a hurry. Millions of questions flared.

"That's a trap, obviously" Staking his claim on that statement, Fishlegs looked around, "That we're not going to fall for." His speech slowed with each passing word. "Right?" Fiddling with his fingers fretfully, he thought to confirm.

"I don't know." The dark-haired rider sounded unsure herself. She hadn't really told anyone about being trapped in a cave-in with her, but luring her into a petty trap of this caliber was poorly planned. "There's just something about her letter…"

"Yeah, something shady and murder-y." Tuffnut wrinkled his nose in profound thought. "Or maybe she knows! And doesn't want us to go! And that was her plan all along."

"What if she  _knows_  that we know that, and that we think she  _wants_  us to stay, but in reality… we  _go_ , and shouldn't…." Ruffnut supplemented.

"But that would mean—"

Hiccup held out his arms, imploring with an incoherent yell to dispel the twins before he wound up with a headache he fully signed up for. "Heather? It's your call. We've got your back." He assured her. The Razorwhip chimed in on his claim.

"Let's do it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter that actually starts to become cohesive and connected to the series…kind of? Thank you for reading!


	7. Put that Night Fury back where it came from, oR SO HELP ME...

Dreams were always a place of refuge for her. Even the nightmarish ones that choked her out of bed in a cold sweat held value. Learning that reality held more control over her future gave some measure of comfort. This dream didn't thrust her back into wakefulness as it usually did. Instead, an external force had nudged her from her deep state of sleep.

At first, it was the smell of dirt and grass that filled her nostrils. And then movement that wasn't hers in proximity that was far too close. In fact… the sack she was sleeping in wiggled independently of her body. Snapping up to a sitting position and slithering at lightning speed out of the cloth, Aqua scrambled for her weapon, wondering if some animal had skittered past her noise traps unharmed. Practically flipping onto her weapon, Aqua pointed it threateningly at the sleeping sack, whilst running a free hand over her midsection for any bites or scratches.

Without waiting for it to reveal itself, she hit the little lumpy shape in the fabric with a loud  _THWACK_. There was a squeak and confused purring as the living creature warbled and shifted towards the only exit. Gearing up for another assault, the huntress lowered her hand towards the dagger in her satchel, ready to carve up some breakfast out of whatever lurked within.

Twirling the rod with ease, she sliced it back through the air for another attack. Aqua froze, finding her dagger to be a strange, crunchy texture. Turning away from the camp invader, she gasped. Broken black shards spilled from her bag, cracked and scattered along the floor. The dragon egg… had hatched.

"Oh, I  _really_  didn't think this through."

oOo

First light had always been a pleasure to watch. Hues of purple and gold painted across the distant horizon as the sun began its ascension to its rightful place. Hiccup favored patrols at this hour. However, he and his selected Riders were not on patrol. Most of them had instinctively concluded that this harmless summons was a disguised trap. He'd assigned Astrid, Snotlout, and Fishlegs to remain on the Edge with their dragons to act accordingly were there to be an incident. Their outpost was designed as an impenetrable fortress, customized by the collective creative minds of those who dwelled there. He had every confidence that they would be fine… or the place would be in shambles.

Hiccup adjusted his flight altitude to parallel with Heather, who had been traveling in silence, in deep thought, despite the yammering of the twins nearby. "If my calculations are correct, we should be near it." He'd memorized the map, comparing it with a few of his drawn layouts. While he'd never ventured out here, charting was a skill of his.

"There!" Perking up at Heather's instruction, Windshear altered course and dipped towards the outer island beach. Soft, white sand muted the arrival of the Dragon Riders.

"Remember, nothing can be trusted." Sliding off Belch, the male twin crab-walked along the sand, swept up a large chunk of driftwood, and chucked it—with incredible strength—into the lapping waves. "Can't be too careful. Hiccup. You almost died just now." Taken aback by the raw muscle and solemnity, the russet haired Rider looked to his Night Fury. Toothless watched Ruff and Tuff commence with throwing various objects into the ocean, growling lowly.

"Anyways…" The group proceeded into the forestation, developing a feeling that the location was much too untouched by human hands to be a Hunter base. Hiccup ducked under a low hanging branch, lifting a curtain of greenery so he and his dragon could pass through. "Hear something, bud?"

The Night Fury's ear appendages had lifted, twitching like little radars. Nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air, Toothless slunk close to the forest floor, taking the lead. Following in tow, the Riders raced after the nimble dragon on foot. They were guided to an open clearing that could only be described as in a state of utter destruction. Circling the area, Toothless glanced back at his partner for confirmation that this was the objective of his search.

Windshear trudged forth, prodding at a large, worn sack, riddled with gashes and sharp teeth marks. "What happened here?" Heather stooped to pat the violently disturbed ground. As a survivalist, she was quite proficient in tracking and hunting. Piecing together this crime scene should have been child's play.

The two-headed Zippleback croaked, calling the attention of their respective riders. "What's that in your mouth?" The Thornston sister sang the question deviously. The Zippleback turned. Barf had a jagged mouth full of sharp grinning teeth on display, while Belch had a knife sticking out of his fangs.

"Dagger! It was you all along!" Tuff exclaimed. Everyone spun to look in shock, "I mean an actual dagger. Not your brother, Dagur, because that would be weird." He wheezed, "Or would it…"

"She was definitely here… " Opening her hands for the dragon to drop it onto her palm, she examined it. The hilt was decorated with an intricate star design. "If she were in real danger, we'd be the last people to send for, right?" This had to qualify as a weirdly executed trap, if it was one. Crimson etched into a metal hunter's emblem poked out of the dirt near the edge of the camp. It was always buckled to the front of Aquaria's cowl on prominent display at her collarbone.

A deafening scream wobbled the stationary trees of the island, pulling the Riders towards it. Heather kept the huntress' weapon at hand and sped towards the unmistakable sound of Aqua's cry. Shoving past a thick brush, the party had to stare blankly to fully process what they were seeing.

Being the first to creep a smirk onto her face, Heather relaxed her stance and crossed her arms, uninhibited in her delight by what she saw. "We've got to stop meeting like this." Echoing the greeting that Aqua slapped her with last time, the Berserker only saw it fit to return the favor.

The pale-haired huntress sneered, setting all of them with a glare sharper than the intensity of a thousand arrows. "Get. Me. DOWN." Tangled in a woven rope trap high off the ground with savage eyes was not how any of the Riders had expected to find her.

"Ah." Adopting a sophisticated tone, the male twin nodded sagely and stepped forward. "And so the Huntress becomes the… Huntree."

"You'll be the first to die." Eyes as cold and flat as glass, Aqua threatened him from her disadvantageous position. "You're all late. I sent that message ages ago." And by that, she meant yesterday morning. She thrashed in vain against the sturdy bonds, only succeeding in flipping herself over, her leg wrapping her elbow in a way not humanly possible.

"What did you do? Get caught in your own trap?" Hiccup playfully nudged his dragon, unable to prevent the forming chuckle. "O'mighty Huntress." Poking fun at their mortal enemy may have not been the best plan of action, but it sure did bolster their spirits.

"N-No." She countered meekly. Her fingers hooked into the ropes, trying to assume a dignified position. "Just cut me down, and I will leave, and you can do whatever you want to the little monster."

"She's talking about a dragon," The male twin concluded.

"Or Cousin Thorkel. The thorstiest Thornston of all." With teeth sharpened down to points and missing one and a half eyes, she was a force to be reckoned with.

"I think we like you right where you are, Huntress." Heather overlooked the information on the twin's cousin and came to a consecutive decision. Windshear growled in agreement.

"If you recall, Rider, I saved your life!" She shouted, "You owe me!"

"Don't flatter yourself! And I left you alive, which is more than you deserve. Trust me!" The raven-haired woman clenched her fists, "Or maybe you really want your right cheek to match your left?" Her tightly closed hand gestured menacingly in the air.

"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Piecing together that they had confronted each other before, Hiccup switched his gaze between the two, "When did this happen?" Whatever it was, it was redacted from any of Heathers' reports.

A faint rustling extinguished the heat of the conversation before it could escalate any further. The dragons were the first to assume defensive positions, jaws unhinging to show their insides illuminated with flame.

Aqua yelped—a strange sound, unfamiliar to the Rider's—and flailed her arms harder in her hanging rope trap. "No! Stay away! I'm warning you—" A deep violet haze streaked across their vision, charging straight into the trap that now held the huntress. "Get off!" The small creature, no longer than an arm's length, scampered up the ropes to where Aqua's face was pressed by the command of gravity. Trilling, it flopped its tongue out and gave her a wet kiss. "I said  _get off_!" Swinging her elbow, she knocked the little dragon to the ground. It recovered quickly, rolling, unharmed from its back to its four legs.

At that moment, it craned its neck to see the strangers surrounding it. Small nubs on its head folded back in apprehension as it tucked its neck into its shoulders, glancing up at the trapped huntress, beckoning for her help.

Hiccup's jaw may as well have hit the ground the longer he stared at the tiny dragon—newly hatched, and not more than three nights old. "A-Aqua, do you have… any idea…" He was out of breath from the pure shock electrifying his form, "…what kind of… dragon this is?" Amazement and his yearning for knowledge overwhelmed him at the sight.

"No way." The twins took a cautious step closer.

"Is that a—?"

"NIGHT FURY. Yes." The dark mauve hatchling chirped and wiggled her rear, which in turn wiggled the rest of her lithe little body, "Now put it back where it came from,  _or so help me_ …"

"You tried to put her back in her egg?" Ruff snickered, "Never thought of that before." She tapped her chin and looked to Hiccup, who had not taken his eyes from the hatchling.

Toothless was the first to stalk forth, constraint governing his every step. This could have been an elaborate hunter trap for all he knew, and the tiny creature was just a fancy, lifelike replication? He couldn't be sure. Sniffing at it from a two-foot distance didn't yield much. The Night Fury slid one of his forelimbs toward the smaller dragon, which was slinking back from him a bit. He shifted his weight forward, nostrils flaring to place the scent of her folded wings.

She was a dark violet shade, save for the gold smeared and blended across her tail fins and undeveloped horns on her head. Sunny yellow eyes that were comically oversized blinked twice. Boldly, Toothless took in the scent of the top of her head, droning softly. After being moderately satisfied by what he learnt, the jet-black dragon leaned closer, lifting one of his claws to potentially poke the pintsize being.

The hatchling beat him to it when she bounced, her mouth opening into a wide grin as her tongue swiftly licked his muzzle. Her eyes were wide and shining with a friendly curiosity. Toothless sat up straight, making a sort of "murp" noise before twisting his body to look at his rider, as if requesting further assistance. Hiccup had both hands against the sides of his head, fingers raked into his brown hair, trying to keep his brain from exploding into a million dancing particles.

"This… changes a whole lot." He had so many questions, starting with how she'd come across an egg that contained a Night Fury. Were there more? "We have to find her family." Stepping lightly to stand at his dragon's side, Hiccup held up his hands and knelt to the knee on his one leg. "Look at you." Completely ignoring the hot-blooded huntress just above him, the man let the hatchling come to him. She cautiously weaved under his modified leg, and bumped her muzzle against the back of his hand. "This is incredible—I…"

"It doesn't have any. I found it wedged deep into the wall of an abyss." All eyes glued to her, "I honestly thought it was dead." Looks of disgust were thrown her way.

"Windshear!" Heather made a motion with her hand that prompted the Razorwhip to slice her tail at the base of the rope trap. It tore and Aqua slipped right through the slit with a disdainful cry.

"Ow!" Hitting the ground right next to Hiccup and the two Night Furies, the Huntress had no time to gain her bearings and execute a graceful exit before the hatchling bounded onto her lap. "I will personally turn you into a pair of boots myself." Grabbing the creature, she stared directly into its sunlit eyes, "Do you understand me?" Craning its neck forward to nuzzle her chin obviously meant no.

"She… likes you." Heather didn't sound completely enthused, but was secretly endeared by the strange interaction, "I mean  _really_  likes you." When she'd met her dragon, their bond had been instant, and now they were inseparable. She could not stop herself from comparing their relationship to this instance.

"That's a serious error in judgment, don't ya think?" The twins nodded to each other, figuring such a young dragon probably wouldn't know any better.

"Tell me about it." Aqua shuddered at having to agree with the mysterious twins. Standing to full height and ignoring the soreness in her limbs, she ripped off the Night fury clinging to her chest and outstretched her arms towards Hiccup. "Here take it. The island over is crawling with hunters, and the stupid thing isn't going to last a day." Gently taking the hatchling from her, the man's green eyes narrowed inquisitively. Crooning, the dragon squirmed, trying to return to the huntress.

"You're giving her to us, willingly?" A silence pervaded the atmosphere. Brows rising, Hiccup loosened his grip on the Night Fury, allowing her to use his arms as a launch pad for her back legs to pounce at Aqua. "You care about this dragon." As blunt as the butt of an axe, the Rider spared no pleasantries.

"Don't say that." It made her indescribably uncomfortable to hear that accusation. "Now go! Before I change my mind." Straining under the affection of the hatchling trying to curl itself around her frame.

"Ohh how the turned…tables have decided to hit you in the face! Literally!" Tuffnut pointed at her eye, which still had a wonderful bruise beneath it.

"Fine." Hiccup shrugged, nonchalant to her plight. "But you're coming with us to the Edge." Finally prying the sunset-hued Night Fury from her torso, Aqua scoffed, giving him an incredulous leer.

"Do none of you recall that the last time I was at your outpost, I singlehandedly left it in flames?" The Night Fury hatchling trotted into a nearby bush and returned with a toy clamped in her mouth. "That's mine!" Aqua admonished, dashing towards the little dragon slobbering all over her collapsed weapon. "Yield, you slimy little—"

How she found herself holding on for dear life to Heather atop her Razorwhip was completely beyond her. Perhaps it was the information that Hiccup had used against her, that the hatchling could die if prematurely separated from someone it had formed a bond with at such a young age. Aqua had been fully ready to call his bluff, but a part of her could not bring herself to that.

To the Edge they went.

oOo

The reprise of the Huntress being on the Edge did little to dampen the excitement of discovering another Night Fury in existence. They spent _hours_ fawning over it, barely paying attention to the blaring threat standing a few feet away. Heather had a tiny grimace wrinkling her nose as she rubbed her upper torso. Allowing Aqua to ride with her had been a mistake in itself, the whole journey resembling a three-hour Heimlich.

"We have to name her!" Fishlegs shook with delight, scratching at the little Night Fury's chin. He would then craft the perfect diet, sleeping arrangement, and exercise regimen to document for posterity. She trilled happily and hopped around the perimeter, checking over her shoulder periodically to ensure Aquaria was still leaning against the doorframe. "What about… Sunny!" For her demeanor, combined with the golden eyes she possessed, brimming with sunshine, "Oh! Oh! Or Violet Shimmer?" Heather kept the silhouette of the huntress in her view and spoke up.

"Why don't you name her? She'll probably respond the most to you." She could see the snowy-haired woman's expression sour in the firelight.

"Naming something only breeds attachment." The hatchling was clearly going to be well socialized. Wriggling, it hopped nimbly on top of the Gronckle, balancing perfectly before sliding off with a thud.

"Yeah, that's kind of the point." The raven-haired Rider rolled her eyes, "Your parents named  _you_ , didn't they?" She teased. Aqua stepped towards the nameless Night Fury, and stared down at her. The hatchling scurried over and rubbed fondly against her ankles, weaving like a feline.

"…No, they didn't." Aquaria replied truthfully. The Riders all frowned at her. She sighed, aware that an explanation should be given or it would have been painfully extracted, "My mother didn't want to name me before I turned seven." As a child, she had been tiny and frail, a favored target combination for any rampant illness or plague. "Ironic that I outlived them." She was nine when she joined the hunters.

"So who—don't tell me… " Hiccup winced, "Viggo? Isn't that a little counter-productive in the naming-breeds-attachment department?"

"We're done here. Take me back." The hatchling seemed comfortable with the new surplus of Riders and dragons. No longer would it need to depend solely on her. Everyone seemed hesitant, more for the dragon's sake than hers. "I'll… come back and visit." She didn't know if that was the suitable thing to say.

"And you won't breathe a word of this to your Master?" Astrid, who had been in silent awe of the small miracle, finally afforded a speck of attention to the unwanted guest.

"Don't tempt me." Pale blue eyes cut through Astrid's distrusting glare. The Viking snarled, going for her weapon.

"You aren't leaving here in one piece if you even think about—"

"Hey! I'm pretty sure what she's already done qualifies as some serious betrayal." Heather moved to calm her friend, proposing an undeniable truth. The huntress felt her skin prickle at the very word.

"I think we're beyond betrayal, all the way down the river of treason." Aqua also wasn't about to ask how the hatchling had managed to steal Snotlout's helmet and slink under a table at such a high speed, nor why Snotlout was... bald. Pivoting, the woman exited the Clubhouse.

oOo

"Y'know, back on Berk…" The Viking leader and Berserker woman had followed her out, finding her standing with her chin tilted skyward. Heather glimpsed the shadows of moonlight cast on her hair. "We used to think dragons were our enemy." Windshear lowered herself as an invitation to ride her. Heather was already mounted, prepared to keep up her end of the bargain and return her to the island. "But we were wrong. And our willingness to change has improved everything... for all of us." Hastily, before the bonded creature could figure out she was missing, Aqua grabbed onto the raven-haired woman and settled on the back of the Razorwhip. "What I'm saying is you don't have to be scared—"

"Save it, Hiccup." Her voice lacked the callous timbre he was accustomed to, "I will be back." She didn't need to hear his self-righteous rant about befriending the very thing she'd hunted her whole life. Aqua had chosen her mantle of thick skin and bared teeth just like the rest of the world around her long ago, and she plunged herself into the darkness without looking back.

"I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I really appreciate any attempts. c:


	8. Shell-Shocked: Part 1 and 1/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points to anyone that recognizes the Monstrous Nightmare cameo.

Lightning struck in the night, jaggedly ripping the sky in two and casting a terrifying shadow on the floor of the stables. The small creature jolted up, coiling and dipping her head low as if ready to pounce. A drum of thunder drowned out her warble for attention, causing her to slink. The blankets provided by the Riders were soft and warm, and one of the opaque cloth items held the unmistakable scent of her guardian—her angry, two-legged, white-haired guardian. Burying her snout into it, the hatchling whimpered deep in her throat.

There were nights when her guardian would sit next to her as she fell asleep. Generally, it was enough to carry her until dawn. Although, with the sky screaming, it was awfully hard to even fathom rest. Golden eyes wide open, the young Night Fury pawed at her bedding as another flash of light penetrated her vision.

Toothless uncrossed his forelimbs and blinked, disturbed by the raging tempest just outside. The dragon licked his lips and saw his Rider fast asleep at his desk, shoulders rising and falling with each tranquil breath. Scales shifting as he stood, the Night Fury retrieved a wool blanket from the nearby chair. This wasn't the first time Hiccup had poured himself into work, passing out on top of his plans. Jerking his chin up to unfurl the blanket to an appropriate span, the obsidian-hued dragon draped the cozy blanket over Hiccup's shoulders. Normally, he would have nudged him awake and guided him to his cot. But with the strident slap of thunder, and myriad of noises outside, it was a phenomenon that Hiccup could succumb to sleep.

He was convinced that the combo of thunder and lightning had roused him, but the dragon began to suspect it was something else. Raindrops bounced off his shadowy scales as he cantered outside, opening his wings and taking flight with one powerful beat of his wings. The stable doors were ajar, making it easy for him to bump his head against the entryway. Courteously, he pulled it securely shut to not disturb those slumbering within.

The Night Fury crept inside, his footfalls subdued against the sturdy panels. A low sound emitted from within him at sensing the high-pitched vibrations from deeper in the stables. It was the younger Night Fury. She had certainly been the dragon of interest over the past few weeks. The purplish gold creature was wound in a tight ball, shivering in spite of the tolerable temperature.

Greeting her with a gentle rumble only gained him a quick, fearful glance. The Night Fury treaded lightly around the smaller creature, circling her thrice. On the fourth, he curled around her, closing the loop with a curve of his tail.

oOo

Wood cracked, splintered, and flew in all directions, falling lifelessly to the floor from the abuse it suffered. Large chunks of straw and hay tore from the dummy's structure and drifted through the air. Aqua twirled her weapon, decapitating two straw figures in her whirlwind, delivering a swift kick to its midsection for good measure.

She'd been deeply perturbed by making frequent visits to the Edge in order to check on the Riders she apparently shared custody of a Night Fury with. No doubt everyone on that outpost was keeping the hatchling occupied with copious amounts of adoration and attention.

Unable to handle anymore, the wooden support for one of the dummies groaned out in anguish, capitulating to its maltreatment. They had rotated bases again in preparation for the next phase of their plan. Aqua hadn't disclosed anything to either party, feeling suspended in limbo by the decisions she was allowing herself to make. Most of her trips to the outpost were silent, minimizing any interaction with the Riders, except for Heather on occasion, who did not ask prying questions.

The construction of Project Shellfire had died down, given that it was complete. Only the clamor of final preparations had been heard throughout the island. It felt strange that she had so little involvement with the project because of her inconspicuous trips to the outpost. Sliding back to test her footwork, Aqua manipulated her weapon effortlessly over her back to her opposite hand.

"Oof!" A yell and smack simultaneously stopped her training. One of the hunters had stepped too close and fallen victim to the deadly sweep of her metal rod. Brows knitting, the huntress collapsed her weapon and hooked it to her belt.

"Amazing." Monotonously delivering the sardonic compliment in regards to the man passed out at her feet, she awaited the message from the other two.

"Ryker wants to speak to you." The mousier man said. Aqua angled her head, granting permission for them to lead the way.

The eldest Grimborn sibling appeared to be returning from a voyage of some sort, trudging with heavily placed steps down the gangplank. Stony eyes set dead ahead, he crossed the docks and continued past the stacked supply crates. A few men of the elite guard followed behind him in strict formation, "Ah, jus' who I wanted to see." Escorted by the two men who were sent to retrieve her, Aqua stopped a fair distance in front of him.

"Would it be too much to ask to make this quick?" She still had to give report to Viggo before sneaking off to the Edge once again. What had become of her routine? Deeply disconcerted by the fact that Ryker began to laugh at her request, the huntress could not shake the gnawing intuition of something being off.

"Not at all!" The last time he was this cordial to her, she was fourteen and sorely losing a sparring match against him. "In fact, it'll be quicker than y'think." A grin stretched across his features, gravel in his voice made rougher by the lower tone "Nothin' personal. I actually really like ya." Placing a hand over his chest to illustrate his point, Ryker began to see the epiphany spark on her face.

Definitely not liking the direction this conversation was going, Aqua slid her foot back, readying a deadly spin. Her hand hadn't even grazed her weapon before a dull pain numbed her head, and everything went black.

"Or maybe it is."

oOo

Her vision was only a blurred line, smeared indecipherably before her. The sound of fighting reached her first, as if she'd been thrown into the center of a raging battlefield with clashing swords and flying arrows. An urgent plea for her to awaken eased her closer to consciousness. Unfortunately, it also returned the throbbing sensation from where she'd been clubbed in the back of her skull. Someone was shaking her, repeating her name louder with each passing second.

Groggily, Aqua murmured something, obtaining full control of her cognizance. "Viggo?" His sword was drawn while his opposite arm held her upright, shouldering her every now and then. "Did you knock me out?" Words slurring together, Aqua sat up and gingerly tapped the back of her head. More questions popped up at seeing the destroyed tents, thick black smoke, and ransacked crates littered across the hunter base.

"No, my dear girl, pull yourself together!" Having to snatch her weapon midair from a toss, Aqua jumped to her feet, seeing a handful of hunters charging at them from all angles.

"Did I miss something?!" Back to back, the duo readied their weapons. Swinging at a diagonal slant, Aqua's blunt weapon cracked against a hunter's jaw, the awful sound causing the rest to baulk. Viciously, she shot forth, knocking the wind out of one opponent with her staff and parrying a slash meant to take her arm off. Driving her rod into the ground, Aqua vaulted and kicked an attacker straight in the chest.

"My brother appears to have taken matters into his own hands." Viggo's combat style was visibly calmer, utilizing minimal movement to conserve as much energy permissible. He leaned back in a smooth arc from the thrust of a spear, shoulder tilting to avoid the tip. Slightly adjusting the degree of his sword defended an attack from his side, the man dispatched the wave of hunters with ease. A glance over his shoulder alerted him to Aqua's triumph in clearing a path.

Demonstrating a speed that would make a Night Fury green with envy, Aqua launched herself at her partner in battle, hearing the arrows whizz by her ear, slicing the fabric of her tunic. She knocked him to the ground, acting as a shield for any other stray projectiles.

"You're kidding, right?" On their feet in an instant, the two raced for cover.

"I truly wish I was." Something was shoved into her hands. "Now go! You know where to meet me." Still hearing the inside of her skull pounding, Aqua looked down.

She ran her thumbs over the metal rings and drawn runes of the ancient artifact. The lens sitting in the open mouth of the Dragon Eye reflected the day's light. Easily, the cylinder could be tucked under her arm, "What?! No I don't. You can't just always assume I know these things." She'd had just about enough of his vagueness, and the implication that he was staying behind angered her even further. Taking her by the elbow shoving her around a decimated tent, the man kept his blade up.

"People underestimate you, they always have, and that is their first mistake." She finally peered at his eyes, wrought with a foreign emotion, likely brought upon by the actions of his own brother. Hurt, she guessed. "Maces and Talons, Aquaria." His grip didn't relent as he spun her to face him, sharply arching a brow; he contemplated his next fragment of advice. "Be safe."

Time was of the essence, and he clearly wasn't about to sit her down and explain the nuances of his backup plan. "That actually doesn't heELP!" Viggo had let go, leaving the huntress without the support to prevent falling fast down a steep slope. Clutching the item he entrusted her with to her chest, she stretched out her fingers emptily at his fading form.

The high-speed combat roll she initiated softened her impact. By the time she could have an opening to look back, there was nothing in view. Running to where she kept her slalom sled, the woman rewound her brain to sort through Viggo's ambiguous instructions. She recalled one Maces and Talons match where she had won, and, by all accounts, should not have. When confronted on letting her achieve victory, he had deflected her question, and had also taken the opportunity to chastise her. It was the same day they'd lured out a Submaripper. That had to be something.

All of her brainpower pinpointed on that singular match, piecing apart every aspect she could magnify. Her first advantage was right after she'd slayed the traitor piece, when she cornered him on an island, just beneath the center division on the board. The dragon piece had been felled there, along with two hunters to the eruption of a volcano. "Caldera Cay," The exact location on the board, were it to be overlaid on a map. As well, the volcano and dragon only contributed to the parallel he had wanted her to see.

Skidding past a fallen tree, Aqua moved elegantly under the cover of the sweeping, barren hills of the island. There was no evidence of anyone giving chase, but she did not falter with her end goal in mind.

A screech of despair that rose above the chaos altered her course. She emerged from behind a stone pillar to see a cage that had been pushed out of the fortified base in the scuffle. It was now being pulled to sea, the dragon inside struggling against the sucking sand. The cage must have been separated from the flock, discarded in the grand scheme of things. Inside, the Monstrous Nightmare ignited itself in flame, convinced that it would increase its chances of escape.

"Stop! Stop! You're going to sink yourself faster." The dragon squawked and burned its gaze into her. It's aquamarine scales melded with a light greenish yellow color. Sand flew up and tarnished its spotted wings, spraying salt into its eyes. The creature's demise was none of her business, and any obedient soldier wouldn't have strayed from the mission. She'd clearly been spending too much time around the Riders. "Don't move." Her tone suggested that she'd punctually slaughter the Nightmare herself if it did not obey.

Conceding by nudging the tip of its horned muzzle against the cage, the creature bellowed sadly. Aquaria jammed her staff into the latch and pushed it at a deliberate slant. The lock detached and the gate swung open, freeing the creature. In gratitude, it trotted after her as she darted off. "No! Do not follow me, I will end you…" Its purple splashed snout pushed against her elbow. The huntress swatted at it.

It was hurt.

"GuuuUH I didn't sign up for this." When, in fact, she did sign up for it. Her hand shot into her bag, startling the dragon, pulling out the salve she'd been using for her own face blemish. She then smeared it along the interior of its wing, right where the appendage bowed. The Nightmare jumped away, but felt a cooling sensation move along its striped wing. She noted its tough, viridian hide scored with scars. One knotted rope of scar tissue caught Aqua's eye: it tracked down the dragon's spine, gnarled like the root of a dead tree. "It's not magic. Do not try to fly yet or I will de-scale you." She sneered as it continued to follow her, "Of course, I have to have a multi-colored beacon on my tail." The Nightmare was a vibrant assortment of forest colors that she did not need as a giant attention grabbing flag. Complete with not only stripes, but also… spots.

Before she could say anything, it decided to split trails and find shelter, allowing the salve to absorb enough to subside the pain of unfolding its wing. Soon it would seek refuge in a cave elsewhere. The dragon turned its head to bid her farewell, a promise emanating in its lilac-rimmed yellow eyes.

One day, it would return the favor.

oOo

Caldera Cay, home to the Eruptodon and Defenders of the Wing, was more challenging to infiltrate than the usual fortress. Were it even the right place for her to be, she would have to learn the hard way. Pulling a loose branch over the sled for some semblance of cover, Aqua grunted with effort whilst dragging a scout who had been unfortunate enough to detect her arrival. He would be passed out for a decent amount of time, and if no one discerned his absence, then it would make matters less complicated.

Relief knocked into her like an overcoming wave as the Riders soared over the island, carrying a passenger that she recognized. Deftly concealing the Dragon Eye in her satchel, the huntress honed her abilities of stealth to close the distance between her and the main village. Three precise strikes stole the consciousness of one of the stationed guards, allowing her to take up his vantage point.

The first bombardment from the Shellfire shook the whole island to its core, smaller plasma projectiles exploding from the initial impact. Rapidly firing, high-pitched whistles signaled the next barrage of attacks. Blinding light flashed into her vision as the plasma detonated like mortars against the mountainside. The team of Riders took off to meet the threat while the islanders held battle stations in the fray.

That was her cue. As another shrill whistle pulsed her eardrums, Aqua dove for the fortified grating on the ground that had been partially damaged by the Shellfire boulders. She jammed her staff into the dented opening and popped it off. Pushing it away, she peered into the pit.

"Your timing is impeccable." Shielding himself from the Shellfire blasts, Viggo lowered his arm at the sight of the huntress.

"I'm late." She translated, holding out a hand and bracing herself. The moment she felt his grasp secure on her forearm, she pulled with all the strength her arms could muster. Another boom inhibited their balance, but gave them just enough time to slip away. Aqua turned to check on the auburn-haired guard who was supposed to be in charge of the prisoner. His stature, radiating raw power, tackled one of his comrades away from falling debris, ushering a few more people away from the chaos. No matter the case, he was occupied.

oOo

Dull, throbbing pulses echoed in the back of her head, the noise drowning almost everything else out. Fortunately, the pulse gradually faded into a hushed rhythm, the volume receding. Her breathing had long since regulated itself by the time the snowy-haired girl found her mental anchor.

"Do you have it?" Once they were clear, Aqua returned the Dragon Eye to his possession. The man took it eagerly, as if being parted from it for a full day was most unbearable. He inspected it for any damage it might have suffered under her care, flipping over the valued relic for good measure. When satisfied with the assessment, he looked to study her with the same intensity. "Aqua." She almost expected a thank-you by the sympathetic way he addressed her. "You look awful."

A sheepish smile that bordered along a grimace broke into chiming laughter at his observation, "When you told me to be safe, I didn't really expect you to push me off a ledge." A resolute snort punctuated her words. Yet, the more she thought of it, the more she realized she should not have been surprised. Even so, she was one of his tools, and no one had use for a broken tool. The beginnings of a smile reached his face, but he quashed it before it got farther than the tightening of his cheeks.

"Were you able to predict the next move?" Brushing off the materials used to hide her sled, the girl double-checked its propeller and worn wooden seat. Modifying it for tempestuous waves instead of the unforgiving ice terrain was one of her more prudent decisions.

"The Edge." There were a few problems with taking him to the outpost. The first was something along the lines of the fact that there was a young Night Fury being raised over there. And the second was that if the Riders caught a glimpse of her, they would question her relentlessly on Hunter agendas.

The voyage to the Edge, avoiding unnecessary contact with the scouts upon leaving the island, was a long one to spend in silence. Aqua sat with her back to the Hunter Chief—former Chief, she supposed. No storms plagued the seas, and the swell of the water was smoothly cut through by the sled's steady speed.

"What's going to happen to Ryker?" She would be naïve to assume that his treachery would warrant a curt slap on the wrist, and assimilation into how things used to be. Although the young woman was cautiously optimistic toward that notion, there was little to indicate that outcome.

"Whatever must be done." Hollowness in his voice did nothing to dissipate the dread flooding her stomach.

Viggo had hardly spared a thought towards the ramifications of his brother's actions—at least not the sentiment. A cold, bitter voice in the back of his head chided him. Petty emotions were not something he could afford to have chewing his focus. Defeating his sibling was now the sole purpose he'd undertaken, by any means necessary. Ryker had been overzealous, and he was prepared to exploit that. An icy feeling pierced through him, a thousand needles that made his nerves sing with devastation. It was a sharp, cutting agony that he couldn't recognize as anything but betrayal.

Daunting eyes stared out at the endless sea, then vanished behind his eyelids as he tried to reason out what would be the final, definitive move on the board. A dim thought flickered like a dying light. The Hunter opened his eyes, reacquainting himself with the stinging ocean spray. His companion was quiet, her emotion trying to wage war on reason, but crippled by the presence of someone that struggled to feel far too many things.

The Hunter's gaze fell upon the weapon Aqua had crafted for herself after the adequate mastery of basic combat techniques. It felt like eons ago that he had shared with her the abilities she was now able to showcase, piecing together ideas and theories that might work in a hypothetical combat situation. How…quaint and bright, the memory seemed. Children were quite malleable. An ideal template to mold into whatever one saw fit for their uses. However, truth be told, he hadn't fathomed that the end-result would be here now—slightly discombobulated and reaching down her tunic to remove a leaf that had gotten a tad too friendly.

"You should rest. I can take us the rest of the way." The offer was absent in delivery, as if he weren't all there. Aqua's incredulous stare brought him back entirely, his brow furrowing nonverbally to inquire what was wrong.

"I—sorry. You're being nice, and its kind of scaring me." Resting her elbow on the curved sides of the sled railing she'd remade to be taller in order to buffer the lapping water, the woman pushed aside the concept of him log-rolling her overboard. "Besides. I'm not even tired."

Literally, less than ten minutes later, she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> distressed honking


	9. Shell-Shocked: Part 2 and 1/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued from the last one! Huzzah! Takes place during the events of Shell Shocked episodes.

Night had almost fallen by their arrival. The bump of her sled against the jagged land having jolted her awake, Aqua sat up with a gasp. She glanced about, not recognizing this section of the Edge, but knowing that it was closer to the wilderness adjacent the main outpost. Utilizing the cover of dwindling sunlight and sea stacks for his approach, Viggo had likely been more careful than she'd ever been in traversing the Edge.

Going through the habit of hiding her mode of transportation with the fallen brush and shoving it beneath a sizable cleft of the Cliffside, the woman straightened herself out. She turned to check on her companion. The trip, for him, must have been spent formulating every plan comprehensible. Now for the game of was he going to even fill her in or not?

Viggo traced a finger over the Dragon Eye; mind plunged deep in thought over the next sequence he'd chosen to follow. Parts of it were a gamble, but what reward came without risk? Gaining even a meager ounce of trust would be a monumental task, no doubt. Technically, it was only Hiccup he needed to sway to his side for the time being. The others were his trusted council, yet not a requirement. Some were susceptible to manipulation in his favor. And by now, the Riders were likely to have encountered Ryker, who preyed on their gullible and thoughtful natures. Nonetheless, the boy was smart, and would see reason before long.

"So have you a plaaAAAAaaAAHHH!" In one move, Viggo drew his sword, hiding the Dragon Eye from view. Barely restrained irritation bloomed on his face.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Nothing particularly alarming entered his field of vision, except for a mortified girl who rarely had a reaction so theatrical to anything. His grip somewhat relaxed, still acutely aware that there were dragons roaming freely on this island, wondering what warranted Aquaria's exclamation.

"Nothing! I—" Her words failed her miserably. She blinked away the expression of stupor and attempted to paint neutrality, "My throat. The seawater must have had an adverse effect on my vocal cords. I apologize." Viggo knew a beautifully created deception when he heard one, and this… was not it.

"Have I ever told you what an abysmal liar you are?" He sounded pained, tilting his head back to pinch the bridge of his nose. It was blindingly obvious, at least now.

"Yes." Many times, "But, you're the one who taught me that skill, so whose fault is it really?" Kicking the ball back in his court, she cleared her throat and shifted awkwardly to the side, "I'm going to go find freshwater." Insisting the first theory to be true.

"Do what you must." Ire broadcasted in his exasperation, the man left her to her own devices, having more important matters to attend to, "And do  _try_  not to wander. There may be a use for you yet." It was not merely a statement; it was a demand. Something familiar and altogether unsettling fell over her shoulders like a heavy drape as she bowed.

Once the silhouette of his form faded without a trace into the forest, Aqua's face scrunched so severely, it was a miracle her eyes didn't pop out of her head. "You stupid dragon!" Each hissed word scalded intensely. The Huntress lunged at the creature poking its head out of the thick brambles that ran along the forest floor. Wrapping her tail around the human in delighted greeting, the Night Fury trilled boisterously. "Hush!" Convinced that this dragon was keen on getting them both stuffed and sold for gold, Aqua pushed at her snout, finding her to be much stronger than before.

She had increased in size, no longer able to be scooped up in a single arm anymore—or two arms, for that matter. Sitting back in contentment, the dark amethyst-colored dragon shook her head, smoothly rippling the motion down her wings and to her long tail, curling and twisting in the air. She was approximately half the size of Toothless. Hovering her hand over the Night Fury's ear appendages for a fleeting moment, she dragged the tips of her fingers across the golden scales lining them.

"Right." Flinching her hand back to her side, breaking the trance, Aqua exhaled sharply, "You need to leave. It is not safe." A businesslike command made absolutely no sense to the dragon. With the Shellfire on the offensive, more dragon hunters ready to swarm the island for a hostile takeover, and Viggo traipsing about, this was the least ideal location for the young creature.

A low growl purred out from the Night Fury, revealing a mouth full of diminutive, sharp teeth. "Why do I even bother?" Striding, in hopes that her current companion would follow, was indeed the correct tactic. All she had remaining was—

_SLAM!_

Her weapon was drawn, fully extended and held out to her side in defense of the young dragon. "Oh." Came the clever and eloquent response to seeing an enemy she had versed once before. "Round two, I suppose." The Night Fury tilted her head at the meaningless rubbish she spewed.

Clicking wrathfully and announcing the destructive capability of its clamping pincers, the Triple Stryke readied itself for a fight. Territorial instinct, along with this unwanted reunion roiled up the vehemence it so naturally exuded. Its eyes flared dangerously, raring to charge in for a rematch.

The Night Fury at her side reared and slammed her massive front paws against the ground. Dark scales of her chest swelling, the dragon unleashed a purple gaseous beam of flame that scorched the earth at her opponent's feet. Aqua felt her eyes prickle from staring directly at the plasma wall of flame. It was easy to see how uncontrollable the inferno of such a young, inexperienced dragon could become.

Lithe form shooting forward like a serpent, the young dragon slashed at the older one. "No! Wha—" Confusion, and a cocktail of other emotions thrown over an open flame burst in her head. The creature was protecting her. With every ounce of her being, she swiped, catching the Triple Stryke and staggering it. She was less graceful on her landing, and not watchful enough to avoid the braided tail of the larger opponent. A startled yelp tumbled the Night Fury to the floor in a heap, dust billowing in her wake.

An ire that dared to seep into the huntress from every direction as instinct overwhelmed her and took the jump away from her rational thought. Aqua torpedoed at the Triple Stryke, who didn't even see the metal flash of her weapon until it smashed right between its eyes. Her opponent toppled forward, imbalanced from the attack that she had thrown all of her power into. "Touch my dragon again, and I'll be waving your head like a flag on this pike!" Standing between the Night Fury and the Triple Stryke, Aqua cut her weapon through the air for emphasis.

A stream of bright orange flame roared from the dragon, fed up with the pest of a huntress that kept popping up at the worst times. She'd been overconfident in thinking she could dodge its fire. Apparently forgetting the blindness this particular dragon's fire could inflict.

Something slammed into her. Toppling sideways, the woman gasped from having the wind knocked clean out of her chest. Once her companion was safe, the Night Fury hopped off the human swiveled to see a second dragon and second human approaching fast.

Windshear screeched in warning, chasing off the Triple Stryke for its own safety. Her Rider, battle cry ringing through the trees and hillsides, straddled the pristine-haired woman, preventing her from standing. She raised her double-bladed axe high above her head, a pendulum ready to swing.

Spinal nerves tingling up and down her back, Aqua tried to slog in a much-needed breath to her empty lungs. It made it all the more difficult upon seeing who was straddling her hips.

"Aqua?!" The tip of her black braid swung close enough to graze the girl's pale cheek with a tickle. Her axe hand dropped. "I thought you were a hunter." Heather wasn't heavy, but the impact of being knocked down by the dragon was hindering.

"I am." She answered wryly.

"You know what I meant." A smooth turn of her head sent her raven-colored braid flying over her shoulder. "Wait a minute, you came here with Viggo, didn't you? You brought him here." She took the lack of response as confirmation. "I should strangle you." Tired from the brawl against the Triple Stryke, the huntress stayed flat, the shockwaves afflicting her subsiding.

"I think he's actually here to help." If anyone could tear down Ryker, it was his younger brother.

"I doubt he'll be able to do that in a cell." Proudly informing her of the unanimous decision taken by the Dragon Riders, Heather took solace in knowing he was imprisoned. One threat down, one more to go. And Thor knew what else waited to pounce from murky, unchecked corners. Throwing the huntress in with him could have reduced their woes by a whole other person too. A soft mewl next to her by the young Night Fury changed her thought process. " _Wait_. You're worried." Heather felt the woman stiffen underneath her. "You're worried about your dragon."

"It is not  _my_  dragon." Regardless of what may have been blurted moments prior. Hotness inflamed her cheeks. "Were you, by any chance, planning on getting off me anytime soon?" Her hips were warm from the pressure, which wasn't completely unwelcome due to the weather conditions of the Archipelago.

"O-oh." Not wanting to be sidetracked into switching the subject, Heather picked up right where she left off once she let the huntress up. "You came to protect her—you  _care_  about her." Brandishing her dagger with an irrefutable precision, the snowy haired girl aimed the point directly at the Rider.

"I will use this." Heather only laughed, boldly adjusting the trajectory of the tip with only a push of her finger. The Rider could accredit it to the time they had spent together or the amount of reformed individuals she had fashioned bonds with—namely her brother, but fear was the last descriptor for her feelings towards the huntress.

Windshear crooned at the affectionate young dragon padding up to her. Long, narrow, rounded ears flattening against her head, the Night Fury rubbed her cheek against the Razorwhip's hide. "Looks like you owe me." Heather shrugged, mounting her dragon.

"I beg your pardon?" The huntress brushed herself off, holstering her weapon. "Where are you going?"

"Oh yes.  _Beg_ " Staring down the bridge of her nose at Aqua, the Rider smirked, "I went to help you on the island when you so gracefully got caught in your own trap. And… just now." Regret for inquiring hit hard. "I mean, since we're keeping score." Lightly curling her hands around the grips of her saddle, Heather continued, "If you haven't noticed, we're at war here." Leaving the huntress at large on the Edge was precarious. Though, adding a bonded Night Fury to the mix altered quite a few things. "You two stay on this side of the island. It's safer." The Shellfire's range was vast, but it could not fire past a whole span of mountains. As for the volcano—one issue at a time.

oOo

Ryker's assault came sooner than expected, rocking the foundation of the island. Unsettled by the sensations vibrating underneath her home, the young Night Fury warbled in question at her human companion. She had spent the better part of the morning explaining commands to properly hide. The main area of Dragon's Edge was taking massive damage, judging by the aftershocks the two felt on the far side of the island.

When the torrents stopped, she knew that the Riders had taken to drawing its blaze in a measure to delay the outpost's downfall. She beheld the Riders flying out to meet their enemy head on in the distance. Using her arm as a hinge, she quickly swung herself to press against the coarse tree bark as Toothless flew overhead in the reverse direction of the Shellfire. Placing her hand atop the female Night Fury's dark purple head, Aqua kept them both out of sight. Stormfly and her Rider were not far behind.

The Night Fury perked up her golden tail fins at seeing the human start to scavenge for items again. She seemed really partial to leaves. Purring low and deep, the dragon trotted off and returned with half of a flower bush spilling out of her mouth. The human made a funny noise, her lips twitching as she removed the bundle of greenery from the mauve dragon's jaws. Executing a tiny bounce, she repeated the task, only this time; she delivered a wooden tree trunk so large that it tilted her head sideways, tilling the earth it was heaved through.

"Please. Stop." The nimble creature paid no mind, contributing avidly to the pile of gifts. Sighing, Aqua sifted through the procured salvage. Rope, a crooked metal hook, vibrant petals, and some wooden knobs were tucked away for future use. Leather strap flapping in the wind from the Night Fury's mouth, it was dropped at Aqua's feet for appraisal. Whether her human companion would use it to smack her or praise her was out of her claws.

The strap was accepted solemnly, much to the dragon's glee. "Enough." Part of her knew that the longer she spent in the amiable company of dragons; unwarranted sentiment would pierce her heart. She questioned her resolve, which was arguably the most genuine trait she harbored. In stripping away everything she was, there were only scraps of identity to her name. She had sailed through life for years on pride that she was valued as a proficient huntress, resigning to her training to light the way. And in a few months, could it all crumble? No. Squashing the intrusive thoughts into a padlocked box, Aqua heard an impressive harmony of bellowing break the ocean surface.

Aqua ran to the cliff overlooking the sea. She could hear thunderous crashing of the waves as they licked the precipices; barnacles dotted the ledges eked out in the sides of the cavern, given breadth by the high tide that frequently filtered in. A colossal Submaripper faced off against the Shellfire, providing the advantage for the Dragon Riders to gain the upper hand. With the events of the day starting to carve into her memory with startling clarity, the huntress swallowed thickly at the capsizing of Ryker's vessel. A dense coil wrapped itself tight in seeing the vortex that annihilated the fleet of ships at his disposal. The girl hadn't been overly fond of the Dragon Hunter, but had grown used to the consistency of his presence. "Gods…" Her hand muffled her voice. She wanted to help. Ships were swallowed by the depths of the sea as the fighting behemoths fled. The life she knew within the solidarity of an empire disintegrated before her eyes. At least, a chunk of it had been brashly ripped off, leaving an oozing, festered wound.

Fear of unknown origin manifested itself like fingers wrapping around her neck. And so the younger sibling had felled his beloved big brother. The tendrils squeezed in a vice grip. It could not have been a remorseless decision, could it? After the lectures she had received on family from both of them, this was… cruel. She choked—a strangled sound that recapitulated her expendability. Her source of fear reared its ugly two-faced head.

Aqua was not afraid to die.

No, she was afraid of being left alone.

"Viggo…" The name fell from her mouth with such sorrow that the young Night Fury chirped inquisitively. Tipping her head, the dragon made to comfort her human companion, but was cut off by a metal whooshing through the air in front of her face. She hopped back spryly, shoulders lifted and bristling at the attack. "Stay here. Do not follow me!" Her authoritative command bent from the instability in her voice. Of course, the Night Fury shadowed her.

Seemingly out of nowhere, flares mushroomed between the two, separating them. Whirring with alarm, the purple-scaled creature retreated from the partition of flame. She then saw Aqua's strange metal rod pointed right at her, surmising that she had somehow produced the unnatural fire. "You are nothing to me! Do you understand me? I've slaughtered hundreds of you." The huntress shouted over the undulating inferno, pieces fluttering off and sizzling just at her feet. "If I see you again. I will show you the meaning of terror." An acrid sting blurred her vision as the huntress disappeared, ignoring the calls of the dragon.

She had to leave. Getting off this island with its forsaken Riders and their faithful dragons was the best thing for her. The dragon hunting empire could be rebuilt… gradually, but surely, under the right leadership. That would be a discussion for later. First, she had to find Viggo.

The sight she was greeted of the Dragon Riders and Viggo with stopped the blood pumping to her heart, shooting every last drop of it to her legs. A hulking mass of earth at his feet shifted and broke away, sliding into the chasm below. Her ankles could have shattered from the extraordinary power she took off running with, ever fiber of her screaming at an ear-splitting pitch.

_No NO NO No no NO!_

Apprehension whited out along with any notion of fear. Fight or Flight activated in overwhelming proportions as she ran.

"A-Aqua, what are you doing here? How long have you been here?" Hiccup did not receive any answer as the huntress tore past him. The Riders steered clear of the one-woman stampede up until they registered where she was going.

"Hiccup! She isn't slowing down!" Astrid didn't know if she could describe the concern she felt.

"Oh. MY THOR." He couldn't stop the words from exploding out of his mouth as the mysterious woman fearlessly  _launched_  herself off the volcano pit's rim, into the bubbling magma below.

Bits of heated rock, speeding like bullets, pelted her face and clothing as she descended the rough slope. A third of the way down, Aqua threw her hand against the sharp rocks, grasping onto whatever met her hand. The warmth of blood, and burn of friction hit her hand all at once. Nevertheless, she slowed down her drop into the lava. Her teeth clenched as she jammed the heel of her boot into the slope wall, sending a harsh tremor through her entire body. As she came to almost a full stop, Aqua attached her other hand to one of the protruding rocks, twisting her body around to rest her forehead against one of the flatter surfaces of the cliff, the churning colloid below masking her soft pants. She slid down, ignoring the ache in her arms and legs. As she skillfully lowered to another platform, strategically letting go occasionally and switching her dominant leg to guarantee the minimal amount of injuries to her person, she successfully navigated down the steep incline. When she was about eight feet from final sheet of molten earth the huntress leapt from the cliff face, landing with a soft thump.

It was the fizzing spout of hellfire two inches away that stirred him. The landing had been lucky, and the Dragon eye being within his reach was a testament to that luck. Viggo pushed himself up, a hand flying to his side with an aggravated grimace. Not accounting for the scrapes and bruises sustained from such a height, it appeared his ribs were cracked in more than one place. He was alive. Surrounded by a sea of flowing, living lava, ebbing treacherously towards where he stood. The magma popped and burst at the surface, engulfing anything it came in contact with. Steeling himself, the man outstretched his arm, believing himself to be swift against the unpredictability of the environment.

He was wrong.

A hoarse scream—one he had determined to be his own—tore the heavens as the sweltering liquid splashed onto the left side of his face. The skin blistered instantly, residually burning his palm as he clutched it desperately to the burning flesh. His vision shattered into starlight and fireworks, the Dragon Eye still sitting an arm's reach away from him. He ground his teeth so hard he was sure they would break, attempting to regulate his erratic breathing. Viggo felt his body move on its own accord, staggering back, his orientation shifting for the worse. Agony demolished his threshold, radiating to his other limbs with such clarity that the man almost wished he went into shock.

"Hold on." Her voice shredded his thoughts, wrapping her arms around him securely. A glob of lava splattered at them, prompting Aqua to twist, removing him from the line of fire. Aqua? Had he died? Were demons manifesting themselves as his former charge to drag him straight the Helheim? Or had the fool actually jumped into the depths of hell? Something he determined to be rope fastened around his midsection.

Blinded by pain, his body gave into instinct again, a choked groan ripping from his throat, its crescendo only broken off by his feet leaving the ground. He tried to open his uncovered eye, initially squeezed shut to channel the unwelcome sensations wracking his frame. The distinct momentum of hurtling through the heated air was an odd perception. Their ascent decelerated suddenly, flipping the contents of his stomach.

Was that… a Night Fury? No… Had he reached the delirium level of hallucination, or was Aqua dangling from the grasp of a dual shaded Night Fury?

Couldn't see, too much pain. Hurt. Was he still screaming? The thought received confirmation as he heard his own voice crack, the volume receding as it broke from its sudden use. Gently, his body was leaned against a cold surface, savoring the cool air around him. He heard the huntress speaking in hushed whispers… not to him. His focus was divided, head swimming with nausea.

"No!" That singular shout alone almost made him spasm from the excruciating injury. "The Dragon Eye. You  _left_  it!" Speaking haltingly, "You fool—of all the senseless things you've ever done! You can't even begin to comprehend in that head of yours the consequences of your actions!" His voice rose in volume, draining his reserve vitality in a pinch. Breathing heavily past grinding teeth, he tried to press down another sound of pain.

"Forgive me..." She began softly, "...for being a little too focused on  _saving your life_!" Rarely did she raise her voice at him, but the pumping adrenaline demanded some gratitude for her efforts. Arguing with her was not a marathon he was equipped to handle at the moment. Slender fingers gingerly touched the unaffected side of his face, "Move your hand."

"I would applaud you for finding a use for yourself, but…as pathetic—" He cut himself off with a hiss. Gasping as his hand was peeled wetly away from the grotesque, flayed half of his face, the hunter chief succumbed to the murky mixture of blind raging anger, searing pain, and mottled grief.

At least it shut him up… for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TECHNICALLY, MY DUDE, IF LAVA TOUCHES YOUR FACE—YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A FACE ANYMORE.
> 
> Thank you for reading! And tolerating this nonsense!


	10. New Alliances

The pain had subsided or had grated at his nerves so severely that numbness was all he knew. Warmth encompassed him, chasing away the violent shivers from earlier. Thermoregulation wasn't going to cut it after plummeting into a volcano and then being pilfered from the jaws of perdition. Wood clunked into a pile, stirring the crackling embers, sending the whirl of smoke climbing higher into the night.

Shrouded in shadow, a silhouette against the firelight, Aquaria sat with her knees drawn to her chest.

"You did something I didn't know was possible of someone over the age of ten." She had heard his movements, checking on him intermittently. Transporting him away from the Edge was no simple task. Not only that, but the Night Fury she had scathingly chased off had leapt to her aid when her rescue plan didn't pan out accordingly.

"And what was that?" Viggo felt as if his tongue had become thick and heavy in his mouth. Words sluggish and unsightly.

"Passed out from a temper tantrum." Her hand swiped across her face, thumb creasing her cheek. "You talk in your sleep." The man knew his charge well enough to know Aquaria cried at trivial things, like sunsets and books. But not when it hurt—never when it hurt.

"Do not patronize me, Aquaria." He warned. Taking a careful breath, the hunter sat up. Breathing should have been an automatic, spontaneous activity. Not a process that he had to remind and force his lungs to carry out. He touched the left side of his face, having a morbid curiosity to the texture. Revulsion described his reaction perfectly as his fingers…  _squished_  against his face, "Ugh! What? What manure did you smear on my face?" Momentarily relieved it was not the true consistency of his cheek.

"Stop touching it." The paste stuck to his fingers as he inspected it. "I—ugh, its not magic. It should help with speeding up healing and less scarring." Direct contact with lava had the potency to strip away the entirety of his flesh tissue, muscle, and likely bone. The putrid sludge was the reason his face was not a macabre, concave calamity. "Do you actually want to know what it is?" There was also a layer of cooling salve and herbal medicine underneath, which was the primary source of the stench he despised.

"Perhaps not." He concluded with sneer. Viggo set himself on the mildly dreaded task of opening his eye, finding it occluded by the thick mud.

"About Ryker…" She had wanted to unfold the topic since the second he awoke.

"What of him?" Indifference idly pulled his syllables.

"I'm sorry." Aqua poured freshwater into a wooden cup and handed it to him. The man didn't respond right away, his fingers gripping the mug, and masking it by taking a quiet sip. The liquid only brushed his lips, didn't make it anywhere past that.

"My only regret is that I didn't get to see the look on his face as I took it all away." His open hand closed into a triumphant fist. "A pity, really." What had she expected him to say? That he hadn't meant to murder his brother? That the continual chain of events was a big, unintended accident? "Hm." Viggo waved his hand in front of his left eye, deeming his vision to be no longer functioning. The wobbling reflection staring back at him in the cup of water reiterated that. His eye was a milky shade, all dark color draining to match the whites of his eyes.

They were no longer on the Edge, but an island that he did not recognize. She had chosen a strategic location, near water and not susceptible to surprise attacks. "How long have we been out here?" The man thought to ask.

"A few days." She shrugged. And this was the first cohesive dialogue they were exchanging. Strings of hesitation wrapped their sinewy threads around her, refusing to let go. Aquaria had two whole nights to think. And as their chat progressed, she knew she was running on borrowed time. "Before…at the camp," The evening was still, save for the dancing flame nearby. "Why did you save me?" Ryker had her. Unwitting and vulnerable, permanent termination imminent, he'd still come for her.

"It pains me that you have to ask." An expression that could freeze water appeared on the visible right half of his face. "My brother saw you as a threat. The only mind amongst the ranks he couldn't sway." Did it matter? Did that hold value to him at all? "Letting you live would have been a liability."

"You didn't answer my question." If he could execute a proper scowl, he probably would have.

"Because you were imperative to my plan, Aqua." He had recruited her into his army of hunters, beheld her progression up the ladder, and reaped the rewards of what he had created. You name a stray dog, and it follows you for life. "And while you may not be expendable quite yet, my brother certainly proved he was." Again—what was she expecting to hear?

"I will get the Dragon Eye back." If he could watch his own flesh and blood's death with glee, what did that spell for her? Nothing she didn't already know. Previously having formulated a plan for retrieving the Dragon Eye, Aqua raked her fingers through a few unruly strands of pristine white hair.

"There's no need." Motioning dismissively with his left hand, the man gave a sharp hiss. All his movement was cracking the mask, flaking outer layers off and irritating the inflamed skin beneath. "You've already failed in that aspect, and I'd much rather be spared another disappointment if you don't mind." Viggo shakily hovered his hand over the afflicted skin.

A hand touched his shoulder, trying to push him back to the bedding. Roughly, he fought back, swiping her assistance away. "If you would stop behaving like a child for a second," Aqua gripped both of his shoulders this time, poised to overpower him in his weakened state. "I won't have to amputate your whole head..." Defiance crimping the impressionable side of his face, he went rigid with noncompliance. "… _Sir_ " Trying to salvage her impudence by icing her last word on top of her cake, she finally pinned him down.

A defeated exhale deflated his chest. His left hand twitched, fingers yearning to reflexively seize her neck. "You're lucky I'm tolerant of your company."

"I'm aware of that luck."

He had never been fully awake to assess the severity of his wounds yet, but it was apparent that his companion had fallen into a routine with her duty of care. Unwrapping the bandage on his hand bore another smear of the muddy substance. Fingers working quickly and in a practiced pattern, she reapplied the opaque gel and tightly unrolled a spool of fresh linen. Aqua didn't acknowledge his staring, already treading thin ice in regards to her position.

"There is one other thing…" A nod prompted him to continue, eye scrutinizing every discrepancy in her face from his questions, "Was a Night Fury part of your endeavors?" He wasn't sure how to phrase the question, but during his pain-induced disorientation, a Night Fury had made an appearance. Was it real? A vision implanted by the Gods themselves? Only a slight narrowing of her eyes was not enough to deny or confirm anything suspicious.

"How hard did you hit your head in that fall?" Displeased by the question, Viggo grunted. "Are you talking about Hiccup's dragon?" She refrained from referring to the dragon by name. Avoidance of familiarity was the key here.

"No" Another thought intersected, "Did Hiccup see your little stunt?"

"Parts of it…" Aqua wiped away a line of salve that was sliding down his neck.

"Then he doesn't know I'm alive." The turn of events played in his favor. Pulling the element of surprise to his corner. He pressed his lips into a hard line, momentarily pensive. "It'd be quite the reunion. Guards down, dragons captured, riders fleeing… " Multiple scenarios of the Edge in flames, conquered by yours truly flared into his head. Remnants of a plan were connecting. "What would Hiccup think?" His nefarious nonchalance was something to note. Perhaps he did have a concussion, but she indulged in the fantasy nonetheless.

"If you're asking me for dating advice." The only time he mused like this was when they discussed the leader of the Riders. "Hiccup will  _love_  your new look. Missing eyebrow and all." Her lips pulled into a smile—the first one in days—mirroring his frown. It was fleeting, smothered beneath the strange burden on her heart. She wanted to ask about Ryker again. Fearing that topic would only instigate a circular discussion in which the knots inside her would constrict.

Quietly, she instead set to work on re-layering the medicine on his face, having to be gentler because he was awake. Skin sloughed away at the final coating, and the silence made his discomposure audible. She poured water from her canteen into the mortar and ground the flax until it was porous enough to be applied like an ointment. Though he winced during application, the man was altogether tractable. Eventually, he stole the jar from her to complete the task himself, refusing to be treated like an invalid.

Aqua did not protest, leaving him to apply the mask on his own. She removed a thin metal pike from the heat of the fire and stuck the end in the soft ground near him. The man glanced over, seeing a long strip of cooked meat impaled on the stick. A blackened circumference indicated its fine finish.

Interlacing her fingers, a look of pure discontentment splashed across her face. "He should have a funeral." The thoughts so carefully contained in her personal pondering leaked out in a single sentence. It was not a loud proclamation, but her only companion was in earshot. They settled into another customary silence. She could not, for the life of her, determine why she was so upset. It boiled down to the conclusion that she had no one she cared to lose. As pathetic as that statement was, it was not a lie. If a man, who saw her as an inconvenience, shook her this much with his death, what would happen if—

"He saved my life once." Viggo said curtly. His accent rode the breadth of his words from beginning to end, wavering like the sweetest of melodies. "I was, perhaps, only a few years older than you." Aqua sat up, eyes glossy in the spewing embers that resembled kaleidoscopic fragments of glass every now and then. Tilting his head back as far as the pain-numbing agent would permit, the man indicated to the three faded scars engraved into the side of his neck.

"Were you run over by stampeding Quakens?" A knell returned to her voice, testing the waters.

"Close…"

oOo

"Are you sure you guys actually saw what you think you saw?" There was a lot happening that day, and Fishlegs would not have complained if both Hiccup and Astrid chalked up their explanation to a shared delusion. The Riders were more than willing to believe the first fragment of the story, but were a bit iffy on the second portion they'd presented to the class.

"Ahh, yep. We… yep." Hiccup nodded slowly, "She definitely jumped in on purpose." At an amazing speed that wasn't broken by any motion she executed. Even her jump had been ridiculously fast. The Riders had spent a sizeable amount of time searching around the perimeter of the erratic volcano.

"I'm not surprised." All eyes switched to Heather's contribution. "She sort of, I dunno, does that. Don't ask me how I know." Crossing her arms over her chest, the Berserker woman flinched her shoulder in a lop-sided shrug. She was convinced that the huntress was alive. Perhaps a bit singed around the edges, but alive.

"Okay, yikes, we get it—Don't get between a teacher's pet and her teacher." Tuffnut crossed his arms and contorted his face into a grimace.

"We can't worry about that right now." He was obviously referring to the off possibility that she did survive, along with someone else. The destruction of the Edge was imminent. And most of the Riders were not willing to abandon their home to a volcano eruption of all things.

Hot, molten lava overflowed in multiple streams over the volcano rim, incinerating anything it touched. Dollops pushed against the base of the tree trunks sprouting along the mountainside.

Toothless called to the nameless Night Fury he had been watching over for some time. The little thing was fast, gliding to his side so quickly; she bumped her muzzle against his. Both shook their heads from the reciprocated knock. She opened her wings, rimmed gold. None of the Riders had named her yet, apparently designating the task to the Huntress, whether she wanted to or not. Until then, the young dragon responded to a range of names. Often times, even a projected noise from Chicken would promptly summon her.

She crooned, internally wondering where the human she'd rescued had gone. Despite her loud, disturbing words, as well as the construction of a literal partition between them, she had been persistent. And for good reason. The dragon had found her friend, falling from a faulty rope. Taking her first real flight over a petrifying pool of magma wasn't how she pictured it, but the Night Fury had ensured the human's safety.

And, for the time being, that was all that mattered.

oOo

Ancient ivory-hued weeping willows grabbing for the heavens mired the morning in a thick fog. Aqua cursed the humid weather, her brow dappled with a light film of cool sweat. She submerged her waterskin into the stream, allowing the container to pull freshwater inside. Staying in one location for too long was a detrimental practice. It had been over a week, and her companion was healed up enough to handle himself. Those constantly on the move would not fall prey to residual enemies. Evidence of that point was illustrated in the shifting of grass right behind her. The woman tensed, the outline of her weapon becoming heavy on her hip, reminding her of its presence.

There was a man behind her. His fixed stance showing that he had been in that spot for some time. It was indirectly an affront to her skills of detection. Being snuck up on was a poor first impression for anyone in the circles she ran in.

The hooded stranger pushed back the deep purple cloak, his expression radiating a smugness that prompted her to sneer. She recognized the face that she had chosen to avoid in regards to any conversation or meaningful engagements. Here he was, sneaking up on her in the most unexpected setting with an abruptness that solicited malicious intent.

"I have business to discuss with Viggo." Bristling like a nadder in an eel pit, the girl kept her breathing even.

"He isn't here."

"Oh?" The comments on her being a bad liar were beginning to haunt her.

There was no fight. Aqua's body hit the floor, the gathered articles in her arms scattering.

"Obedience for the sake of obedience is certainly not a virtue," She felt the cold blade bite her neck, drawing a stinging line of crimson. "I wonder if the Gods will pity your soul once the life drains from your body." The way he seemed to pretentiously peer into her character, disassembling it and assuming he knew every detail deeply irked her. Another presumption was that he had been keeping a watchful eye on her for an extended period of time, sizing her up and assessing her as a threat. Clearly, he was ready to pass a verdict in this initial encounter.

Every inch of her being sore from the fancy feats of fighting and rescuing, she found her weak body defenseless against his subsequent blow.

A  _ping_  of metal colliding with metal prevented her impending doom. Throwing her head back, the woman saw her savior, his sword being the only gatekeeper from her death. Reacting, she slid back and got up, unsheathing her own weapon. The metal rod extended, assembling itself to full length in an instant.

"Krogan. Always a pleasure." Viggo's face and eyes were reminiscent of stone, still, unwavering and stern. Much to his chagrin, the man seemed transfixed on the young huntress.

"You must be Aqua." The faded scar along his eye stretched as Krogan raised his brow. "I have to say, I'm not impressed." He carefully studied her near undetectable shift in expression.

"That's funny, I was about to say the same thing." Impulse drove her to take a step forward, halted by an arm that barred her from advancing. Aqua scowled at the arm's owner, a bit agitated by his interruption.

"You'll have to excuse her. She does have promising potential." Viggo swiveled his gaze to the slight framed girl standing at his side. "If not hindered by how  _soft_  she is." Aqua inaudibly winced at the criticism.

"And what use do you have for someone like that?" Apparently about to do him the service of ridding the world of her himself, Krogan mirrored the pleasant pace of the conversation in the deep, rich tone he controlled.

"My reasons are my own." Aqua could not match the intensity of either of them, lowering her eyes to the ground. Viggo, being the behemoth of an opportunist he was, cleared his throat, "I assume you've come with nothing short of an enticing proposal?"

"Indeed." His gaze flickered between the two, charismata curving his lips. "A discussion better conducted aboard my ship."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out of the garbage can* hello friends! I recently just tested for my registered nursing license and got it, so that's why I've been in hell. BUT here is some more of this story that has honestly been acting as a coping mechanism for me during stressful times.
> 
> THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO READS IT! like even if you accidentally click it. your eyeballs mean everything to me. thank u.


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